Iguanaworks has closed and our products are no longer sold

Home Assistant* introduced support for infrared a few days ago. Not sure if it would be a good idea to stay in business for a bit longer and see if the Home Assistant community boost the sales.

I am personally interested in an IR Sender to make my old Hifi Setup smarter.

* https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/04/01/release-20264/

Sad to see someone’s small business close, but these products are in a difficult position of being both extremely niche and very simple. Someone went to some effort to source a nice dongle enclosure and do some printing on it, but beyond that the hardware is something that anyone with a little PCB experience could replicate it in a day. I wouldn’t be surprised if these were just sourced from a generic manufacturer in China and they asked for custom printing.

If there’s demand this would be a good project for someone to make and have ready to build PCBs you could order from OSH Park or even a fully project that you could have JLC build and populate.

Well damn, I didn't know about this until now, and I could actually use one.

Is there any alternative?

Presumably there just isn't that much use for that anymore.

Most remotes seem to be RF not ir these days.

I’m guessing that modern hardware are all controlled by privacy-invading apps, communicating via the company’s servers.

Home Assistant* introduced support for infrared a few days ago. Not sure if it would be a good idea to stay in business for a bit longer and see if the Home Assistant community boost the sales.

I am personally interested in an IR Sender to make my old Hifi Setup smarter.

* https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/04/01/release-20264/

Yes, same exact boat, I was just starting to think about looking for a small, cheap device in this space for HA.

I’m guessing that modern hardware are all controlled by privacy-invading apps, communicating via the company’s servers.

Yes, same exact boat, I was just starting to think about looking for a small, cheap device in this space for HA.

Let me know if you find one! I wanted to wait for a few months to let the experienced smart homers pave the way.

If there’s demand this would be a good project for someone to make and have ready to build PCBs you could order from OSH Park or even a fully project that you could have JLC build and populate.

Well damn, I didn't know about this until now, and I could actually use one.

Is there any alternative?

Presumably there just isn't that much use for that anymore.

Most remotes seem to be RF not ir these days.

Let me know if you find one! I wanted to wait for a few months to let the experienced smart homers pave the way.

I have a tiny business that makes a gadget for musicians: Think something like an effects pedal. I publish my schematics, have shared PCB files, and even offer to give you some of the parts that are hard to get. A few people have built their own, and share their results in web forum threads about my product.

Very few people have taken the bait. I think we techies over-estimate the ability and inclination of people to make something. Even most programmers don’t want to solder. They may still be technically inclined, but want to be involved at a higher level: Buying the basic stuff and using it as a basis for even more elaborate things.

This company and product line launched nearly 20 years ago (2007) and doesn’t seem to have changed much since. That’s quite a long time for something like this. If the owners had wanted the business to continue (perhaps they didn’t), some diversification could have achieved that relatively easily.

I've had reasonable luck with microsoft's windows media center remote receivers and lirc. Although they don't all work the same. The first one I got was easier to use than later ones...

And frustation with atsc 3 and the media landscape led to me abandoning my htpcs.

Especially given the hardware has no moat and there are a zillion IR transceivers on Aliexpress. It's not a good market.

I've had reasonable luck with microsoft's windows media center remote receivers and lirc. Although they don't all work the same. The first one I got was easier to use than later ones...

And frustation with atsc 3 and the media landscape led to me abandoning my htpcs.

Especially given the hardware has no moat and there are a zillion IR transceivers on Aliexpress. It's not a good market.

>I think we techies over-estimate the ability and inclination of people to make something.

But that was never the worry. The worry is a competitor undercutting you because they do not have to recoup R&D.

>I think we techies over-estimate the ability and inclination of people to make something.

But that was never the worry. The worry is a competitor undercutting you because they do not have to recoup R&D.

USB IR Transceiver Image

USB device to send and receive IR: have your computer send IR signals to your DVR; receive IR signals from a remote control. Works under Linux and Windows. Our standard USB IR Transceiver can send and receive infra-red (IR) signals. It comes in 3 different variations. Common to all versions:

Receive Standard 38 kHz IR Signals
Transmit IR Codes at (25 – 125 kHz carrier frequency)
USB device works under Linux and Windows

The difference between the three version are how IR is transmitted and received:

Dual Socket: Contains two stereo 3.5mm jacks for connecting wired IR emitters (also called blasters). Each jack can control two independent transmit channels, enabling a total of 4 independent IR sending channels. To transmit IR using this device, you need one of our IR Emitters per channel. To use two channels per socket, you need a stereo->mono adapter. Device has one on-board receive unit.
Socket Receive: One stereo 3.5mm jack for connecting wired IR emitters and one stereo 3.5mm jack for connecting a wired receiver.

Transmit Channels

Device Type	Port A	Port B
Dual Socket	Channels 1 & 2*	Channels 3 & 4*
Socket Receive	Channels 1 & 2*	Receive Socket

* Channel only accessible with stereo->mono adapter Uses on-board LED Requires wired IR emitter

Receive Channels

Dual Socket, Dual LED and Hybrid all have on-board IR receivers opposite USB connector.

Socket Receive version does not have on-board IR receiver, but Port B accepts a wired IR receiver. Socket Receive cannot receive IR signals without a separate wired IR receiver.

Specs

Receive standard 38kHz carrier IR signals used by most remotes
Transmit IR with 10ft transmit range (depending on receiver) and 50° cone angle
USB device compatible with USB 1.1 and 2.0
Transmit IR on up to 4 independent channels.
User adjustable transmission carrier frequency from 25kHz to 100kHz
Compatible with LIRC and WinLIRC

Overview

Our USB IR Transmitter/Receiver is a standard USB device that can transmit and receive the infrared codes supported by LIRC (Linux only) and WinLIRC (Windows only). Combined with (Win)LIRC, this device can communicate with most home electronics, such as TVs, stereos, DVD players, receivers, and their associated remote controls. When used with MythTV, you can turn your computer into a TiVo-like media center. We can send and receive IR under Linux and Windows. We do not support MAC OS X, although there is an UNSUPPORTED MAC OS/X project. Decoding remote control commands is currently supported under Linux via LIRC and under Windows via WinLIRC. Our software, both binaries and source code, is available in the Downloads section and is licensed under the GPL. We happily accept patches to our code. We would like to extend the ability to decode remote control signals MAC OS/X either through LIRC or an alternative.

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