MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - You learn something every day!

This is off topic but is such a neat trick I thought I would share it.
I bought a new TV and the remote control didn't work - I was unsure whether it was the remote control or the receiver on the TV that was at fault. The service guy told me to look at the remote using my iPhone camera and push a few buttons on the remote and see if the sender lights up - the iPhone or any smart phone camera picks up the infra-red light that is not visible to the human eye. (The new remote didn't light up and they are sending me out a new one - tested the principle on another working remote and it shows a red light each time a button is pressed).
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

By the way it only works on the front facing camera on an iPhone 5S - the rear facing camera has an infra-red filter.
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Neat thing to know. I tried it with one of our digital cameras and it works with it also. Cheers - Dave
D W DuBois

It's getting all too complicated for us old MGA people. My Sony Tablet operates all my Sony TVs quite happily. I have not told 'her indoors' and she gets quite infuriated when she has the remote and the TV mysteriously keeps changing channels to something I want to view!

Steve
Steve Gyles

Agree Steve. I still use a Nokia (phone only), about half the size of those Iphone things. If it's anything to do with computers/internet etc. it can wait all day until I'm ready. If there's a future occupation for your kids, take up chiropracting, as there will be millions of people wanting neck corrections in the years to come...everyone is wandering around looking down at their Ipad things.
Gary Lock

Funnily enough we have just come back in from a trip to Salop.We were saying that there must be a phone god up in the sky ( probably called Dave) cos everytime we pass another obstacle(sorry,essential road works ) there is a fella with a mobile phone arm cranked up to his ear saying something to the effect" Yeah Dave ,we need another 2 ton of hardcore) or "Yeah Dave could you send the traffic light men down now cos we need to change the batteries" or something similar.All builders on site are in constant touch with "Dave" (or Steve) and we will end up with a race of shrivelled phone users rather akin to medieval archers who developed a hump from pulling long bows.

Electronic gizmos anyone?I just prefer to switch on a socket for a wander lamp.
M Blencowe

Oh that's your game, we'll see about that little trick when you come inside from the garage!
Mrs Gyles

This reminds me of my dad very many years ago when he bought a new TV which had a brilliant new gadget fitted to it, a remote control.
This was a Godsend to him as he had very arthritic knees and found it really difficult to keep getting up and down to change channels.
It was a German made TV, either Bosch or Siemens or something similar and he was really proud of it.

The early TV remote controls did not use Infra-Red as they do now, but projected ultrasonic sound to operate the TV.

This worked perfectly but mysteriously, the TV kept switching itself off for no reason. Even after numerous visits by the TV repairman and finally a replacement TV, the problem continued.

Then we noticed that the switching off seemed to coincide with a certain movement of his right leg.

It turned out that the creak his right knee made as he bent it must have had an ultrasonic element to it and matched the exact frequency of the remote controls off signal!

Once we figured this out we found that if we "soundproofed" his RT knee with a pillow he could then watch TV uninterrupted!

So I always will remember my dad for being the first man ever to have Ultrasonic Knees!

Colyn
c firth

Question for Mrs. Gyles.

Does he ever 'come inside from the garage'?

Cheers, Barry
BM Gannon

Colyn - My parents gave our daughter an old TV that they had, one that used an ultrasonic remote. It worked fine except when my wife was vacuuming (hoovering) the up stairs, when going into our daughter's room, the TV would come on. Obviously something in the vacuum was producing the correct harmonic to match the on circuit of the TV. Cheers - Dave
D W DuBois

Funny you should ask Barry, he's not been in to face the music yet, I'm thinking I'll have to venture into the Stevie "man-cave" and ferret him out
Mrs Gyles

My granny had one of those TVs with a clicker. It reacted to my knees when I crouched down (they still go off like pistols) and I drove her mad with that trick in the middle of her soap opera. Had to run like mad (just like a certain Mr Gyles apparently!)
dominic clancy

This thread was discussed between 13/10/2014 and 14/10/2014

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG MGA BBS now