Osram SFH7710 optical tilt sensor!

[Mr RB]

Hi, I've just added an article to my web page on using the Osram SFH7710 optical tilt sensor.

These are TINY little surface mount tilt sensors using an internal ball and optical beam. Basically it's the modern version of a mercury tilt switch but using optics and digital filtering etc so you never get the contact wear and corrosion that has always been a big issue with the old style tilt sensors.

**broken link removed**

These are commonly being used now in cameras etc to detect picture orientation but I wanted to do some testing to see if they can be used for other things like inertial force detecting. Looks liek they can.

I did some simple testing of one and wrote it up on this page (and I include datasheets etc);

Using the Osram SFH7710 Optical Tilt Sensor

 

[mneary]

Awesome! Now I need a project.

 

[Sceadwian]

Who carries them and how much do they cost?
[EDIT]
Well guess Digikey carries them their initial search didn't pull anything up, Google managed to pull up Digikeys page though... Weird. 2.59 seems a bit expensive for a basic tile sensor.

 

[Mr RB]

I agree. They are not a commonly stocked item yet, so like most specialty SMD items they are quite cheap in a reel quantity but buying a single unit off Digikey or Farnell is a bit expensive.

It's very new technology, it won't be long before some supplier is smart enough to buy a reel and start selling singles at good prices.