@Hitek146, actually “a LED” is correct.

Good thing this is the first time you’re doing it.

Let’s hope it’s also the last time.

“a LED” = “an LED”
Erm, that’s just you then. And if you’re going to be anal, it should be a parallelepipedic 9V battery and not a rectangular one.

Now that we’ve pointlessly, yet pedantically, argued semantics, my opinion: I’m not into IR myself, but neato anyway. Could it be done with a AA clip since 9V batteries are not cheap?

Or just use the rubbish camera on your phone – They always seem to work.

Holy grammar police hijacking batman!

Lets get back on topic here… This is a really handy hack.

But the abbreviation is Light Emitting Diode, so which one to use, the letters or the full version :)

I say it as L.E.D. (individual letters) so in normal conversation I would say ‘an’ L.E.D. because, obviously, this sounds correct. Saying “a L.E.D.” makes you sound like a 5 year old.

However, I work for an electronics company where most people pronounce it “led” as in “Ted” or “bed”. In these cases, they say “a led” because the other way sounds stupid, obviously. (anled?).

So I guess it depends how you pronounce LED.

Ouch! 9V battery aren’t rectangular nor parallelepipedic, they have “rounded edges”. So, well, let’s say it’s a 9V battery with a weird shape.

Oh, and for the LED, let’s write it in french : “une DEL”.

@Bacchus: nope, the author has a crappy phone camera which filter IR.

@Olivier So it’s a rounded-rectangular prism 9v battery?

I have never met anyone who uses the separate letters L E D when spoken. Its usually led (like ted bed fed red). Whoever said it is not pronouncable doesnt speak english.

I don’t know the range of this thing, but refering to what Alan said, if you replace the LED (a, an, um, ah f–k it) with a piezo buzzer and hide it somewhere in a persons desk where they can’t see it but you can shine a remote control at this could be a fun little prank.

@sh0cked And I have never (until now apparently) met anyone that DOESN’T pronounce each letter individually. I guess it all depends on where you live.

“…fits on top of a standard rectangle 9V battery.”

Man, what planet are you from? One that presumably has mainly cylindrical 9V batteries?

If youre working with IR you can get a cheapo Canon compact camera and remove the IR filter. Being able to see the actual IR light beam pattern and distance would be more useful than just this repeater thing.

“@Hitek146, actually “a LED” is correct.

Good thing this is the first time you’re doing it.

Let’s hope it’s also the last time.”

If by “doing it”, you’re referring to my pronunciation of L.E.D., then I have been “doing it” since the ’70s. Only younger generations say “lead”. I guess the DSLR referred to in the article should be pronounced “disler”???? :)