funkmasterta
New Member
I'm an electronics newbie and I was wondering if someone could help me with this idea. How would you create a break beam type switch from an IR LED and an IR receiver?
I've been wanting to add some lighting to the storage compartments in the front doors of my car so that at night, we don't have to use the map lights to find stuff in there. I was going to do a simple LED + switch setup but thought creating motion-activated LED lights, ie, so that when your hand enters the compartment it lights up automatically, would be way sophisticated and Star Trekky...sort of like those Bang & Olufsen home audio systems that open the glass covers when you swipe your hand over a sensor.
My first thought was to mod those ~$10 motion sensors at Home Depot (or your fav home improvement store). Details on how to mod and get it to operate on DC voltage here:
http://www.thebells.net/Halloween/PIR_Mods.html
But, ran into 2 problems:
1) Units are way too big to fit behind the door panel
2) the FAQ says it runs on 18v DC, car power source is 12v DC
But then a better idea came to light (no pun intended). Couldn't we just use an IR LED in conjuction w/an IR receiver and set it up similarly to those door entry chimes you see in small shops, ie, when someone enters the door, it breaks the "beam" and chimes a bell. IR LED's are about $1 each and I'm sure the recievers wouldn't cost much more. It would be nice to be able to add some capacitors so that it "fades" on and off like the dome lights.
Any ideas on how to get this started?
Thanks a bunch!
-Tom
I've been wanting to add some lighting to the storage compartments in the front doors of my car so that at night, we don't have to use the map lights to find stuff in there. I was going to do a simple LED + switch setup but thought creating motion-activated LED lights, ie, so that when your hand enters the compartment it lights up automatically, would be way sophisticated and Star Trekky...sort of like those Bang & Olufsen home audio systems that open the glass covers when you swipe your hand over a sensor.
My first thought was to mod those ~$10 motion sensors at Home Depot (or your fav home improvement store). Details on how to mod and get it to operate on DC voltage here:
http://www.thebells.net/Halloween/PIR_Mods.html
But, ran into 2 problems:
1) Units are way too big to fit behind the door panel
2) the FAQ says it runs on 18v DC, car power source is 12v DC
But then a better idea came to light (no pun intended). Couldn't we just use an IR LED in conjuction w/an IR receiver and set it up similarly to those door entry chimes you see in small shops, ie, when someone enters the door, it breaks the "beam" and chimes a bell. IR LED's are about $1 each and I'm sure the recievers wouldn't cost much more. It would be nice to be able to add some capacitors so that it "fades" on and off like the dome lights.
Any ideas on how to get this started?
Thanks a bunch!
-Tom