Apple Remote Battery Test, Using an iSight!

by Matt, matt@smalldog.com

What do you do when you suspect your Apple remote is broken, and you have only one Mac to test with? All Macs, except the Mac Pro, now ship with Apple Remotes, and very few remotes have required battery replacement in my tenure as a repair guy. However, some remotes have simply ceased to function.

The surefire way to tell is to fire up Photo Booth, point your remote at the iSight, and hold down any button. If your remote is working properly, the on screen image will show a flashing red dot on the black face of the Apple remote. This is the infrared transmitter in your remote, and if you see this dot it is safe to assume that the remote works properly. The remote acts as transmitter, of course, but there is a separate board in all these Macs to receive the signal. It’s a fairly common part to fail. No Apple Remotes have come in yet for battery replacement, as the remote is so energy-efficient. I managed to drain my Mini’s remote battery, though: it was wedged between couch cushions and engaged long enough to drain the battery.

The human eye is not able to see infrared light, but for some reason the iSight can, and converts it to visible light on the screen. I do not purport to understand how a simple iSight can convert infrared into visible light. Anyone out there know how this works?

by Matt, matt@smalldog.com