Attiny85 Canon DSLR IR Remote

A nice use for the Attiny85 — a canon DSLR infrared remote.

Canon keychain IR remote

Parts required

  • Attiny85 microcontroller
  • NPN transistor
  • 3.3 or 5 V voltage regulator
  • Pushbutton
  • Infrared led
  • 12v car key/alarm battery
  • Some copper clad board

Design the PCB

pcb layout

 

Tweak the design for better looks in Illustrator (Download printable PDF)tweaked pcb design

Print and transfer the pcb design to the board (laser printer/laminator method)

PCB layout transferred to copper clad board

Trim the board with a dremel and etch with ferric chloride and some 3D printer assistance

Gcode for rocking the print bed

G21 ; set units to millimeters
M107
M92 X62.6054 ; calibrate X
M92 Y61.0152 ; calibrate Y
M92 Z2387.0719 ; calibrate Z
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
G1 Y100
G1 Y110
G1 Y100
G1 Y110
G1 Y100
G1 Y110
G1 Y100
G1 Y110
.... just copy-pase the last 2 lines to extend print time

Etched pcb

Wipe off the toner with acetone, tin and drill the holes using .8mm carbide drill

PCB with drilled holes

Solder the parts and add battery contacts made from a paperclip

Assembled remote

Program the attiny85 with the following code (16 15us pulses, pause for 7330us and do 16 15us pulses again)
I am ussing the assembler port calls to trigger the pins because digitalWrite() function is too slow

void setup() {
pinMode(0, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
int del = 15;
int del2 = 7330;
for (int i =0; i<16; i++){
PORTB |= _BV(PORTB0);
delayMicroseconds(del);
PORTB &= ~_BV(PORTB0);
delayMicroseconds(del);
}
delayMicroseconds(del2);
for (int i =0; i<16; i++){
PORTB |= _BV(PORTB0);
delayMicroseconds(del);
PORTB &= ~_BV(PORTB0);
delayMicroseconds(del);
}
delay(100);
}

Model and 3D print the keychain case (Download printable file from Thingiverse)

model

 

References

Programming the Attiny85 http://highlowtech.org/?p=1706

Timing for the trigger signal http://www.doc-diy.net/photo/rc-1_hacked/index.php

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