[img ir_test_setup.jpg||left]I continued working with the IR sensors. Apparently what I thought was working before was just noise in the line triggering the LEDs to light up. I wasn't sure what wasn't working, so I ended up building several 38kHz oscillators until I realized the problems was actually the IR receiver module. I was testing with a TSOP1838, which would detect a remote control fine because the signal from the remote is sent in pulses and that is the only way the TSOP1838 works. I plugged in a TSOP1738, which will detect a continuous stream just fine and as soon as I did that the sensor started working. I have 2 of each type of sensor, so with what I've figured out, I can only build 2 sensors at the most. One thing I'm also considering doing is some of my PIC16f84a chips and turning some plain old IR phototransistors (or are they photodiodes?) into something that will detect a 38kHz signal (similar to how I read the PWM) and set a pin as high (or low) to work like a TSOP1738. Additionally, I can also have it emit a signal on an IR LED and turn the entire thing into an IR sensor. The main downside is that each PIC16F84a requires a crystal, but I have enough crystals and chips to make 4 of those. It might also be possible to oscillate the oscillator for the TSOP1838 to work, but the effect would probably be a square wave on the receiving side, which I don't want.