RE: Adjustable IR range.
It s just an adjustable trim pot. 0-500 ohms is the one I used, but the last half of the pot is dead, meaning that you probably only need a 200 ohm one. They have thee pins. You connect pin 1 & 2 and then this goes inline to one of the pins on the IR LED. It acts like a variable resistor that you dail in the resistance you need for a given IR intensity