Hack A Laser Tag Toy Into A Smart Home Sidekick!

About the project

Ill show you how to replace the brains of a laser tag toy to make a universal remote! All of the electronics still work without toy!

Project info

Difficulty: Moderate

Platforms: ArduinoDFRobotSparkFun

Estimated time: 1 hour

License: GNU General Public License, version 3 or later (GPL3+)

Items used in this project

Hardware components

DFRobot Gravity:Digital Push Button (Yellow) DFRobot Gravity:Digital Push Button (Yellow) x 4
SparkFun Arduino Pro Mini 328 - 5V/16MHz SparkFun Arduino Pro Mini 328 - 5V/16MHz x 1
ams OSRAM Osram SFH 4545 IR LEDs ams OSRAM Osram SFH 4545 IR LEDs x 1

Software apps and online services

Solder Wire, Lead Free Solder Wire, Lead Free
Arduino IDE Arduino IDE

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic) Soldering iron (generic) x 1

Story

I wanted to make a universal remote that was more interesting than just some box with buttons on it. My idea was to take a Nerf blaster and replace the mechanisms inside with a circuit that would work as an IR remote. While looking for a blaster I stumbled upon a home laser tag toy that uses IR already. Since it already had a battery holder, electronic trigger, and built in IR LED it was perfect. I made this video to talk about it and show off how it works!

Schematics, diagrams and documents

Pro mini wiring diagram

This shows how to wire up the pro mini

Code

proMini.ino

This is the main code that should be uploaded to the pro mini

PinDefenitionsAndMore.h

This code defines the pins for using the IR led

Credits

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