Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Help with pressure / weight switch

Status
Not open for further replies.

LXAZack

New Member
Hello, I am new to the forums. I have been reading through different posts and there is a great volume of good information found here so I thought I would try to get some help

I've looked all over the internet trying to find a company that sells pressure sensors or some sort of switch that will turn on when pressure is applied to it. The application that I am using is in the sense of lights. Basically I need a switch that will activate a light when the weight of about .5lbs is applied to it. I am building a table and when say a cup (filled with liquid) is set in a certain small area, an LED will illuminate. When the cup is removed, the light will turn off. Hopefully this is possible. Thanks in advance.
 
There are a few ways to get where you want to go. As to sensors what you would be looking for is a "Load Cell" or "Force Sensor". Good examples of these devices on a local basis would be for example a digital bathroom scale. This is a good overview of load cells and how they work.

Another very simple approach would be the use of a simple spring scale and incorporate a switch (like a micro-switch) to close at a given applied force. A simple "push/pull" force gage for example.

Really depends on what you want to invest, how accurate it needs to be, and how you want the mechanics of it configured.

Ron
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top