Playing with hardware is hard, I was able to decode a IR signal from a TV remote but I can't get my contraption to send a IR signal. Now after a day of trying I suspect that I broke the IR LED but have no idea how to test it. A normal LED emits short visible light flashes when I use it, so the whole contraption seems to work, only the IR LED doesn't. With my phone camera I can see the TV remote flashing, my IR LED on the other hand is just dead.