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Pressure Sensor / Shock Sensor to LED Output

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jasonpm

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Hello Everyone ,

I am obuviously new to this fourm, and was wondering if you guys could help me.

I bascially want a sensor (Must be thin) for when contact is made a led light will go off with a 1 second dealy.

I have bought this sensor: **broken link removed**

But am happy to use somthing else, I am very new to all this but have a basic understanding.

Note: I can not code so i dont want to use Arduino :)

Would really appreciate options and imput,

Thanks
 
Welcome jasonpm!

Ian's right about the 555 timer for use as the "triggered" LED (delayed) lighting circuit.

If I may ask, though, what sort of "contact" are you anticipating? A simple touch of a finger? One thing coming into contact with another thing? Something hitting something (hence the "shock sensor" you've chosen)?

Reason I ask is because the sensor will dictate, to a degree, the trigger portion of the 555 timer circuit you choose.
 
Welcome jasonpm!

Ian's right about the 555 timer for use as the "triggered" LED (delayed) lighting circuit.

If I may ask, though, what sort of "contact" are you anticipating? A simple touch of a finger? One thing coming into contact with another thing? Something hitting something (hence the "shock sensor" you've chosen)?

Reason I ask is because the sensor will dictate, to a degree, the trigger portion of the 555 timer circuit you choose.

Thanks for your reply, bacically i want to know if a ball has made contact with the sensor.
 
Thanks for your reply, bacically i want to know if a ball has made contact with the sensor.

Ok.

Is the ball being dropped, thrown, rolling? Is it metal, plastic, rubber...? :confused:

Please describe what the ball is doing and how is it making contact with the sensor (which, as of yet, has not been selected).
 
Do you mean you want the LED to come on when the sensor is hit and stay on for 1 sec?
If not, what will turn the LED on initially?
How long should the LED stay off?
Roughly what weight is the ball?
 
Ok.

Is the ball being dropped, thrown, rolling? Is it metal, plastic, rubber...? :confused:

Please describe what the ball is doing and how is it making contact with the sensor (which, as of yet, has not been selected).

It will be kicked by a kid, thesensor will sit on a board,i will put rubber or foam in front. It is a socccer ball, so rubber/plastic
 
Do you mean you want the LED to come on when the sensor is hit and stay on for 1 sec?
If not, what will turn the LED on initially?
How long should the LED stay off?
Roughly what weight is the ball?

The led will come on when contact is made , and stay on from 1-2 seconds
 
It will be kicked by a kid, thesensor will sit on a board,i will put rubber or foam in front. It is a socccer ball, so rubber/plastic
In that case the output voltage of the sensor will probably be great enough to trigger the 555 directly. In fact, it would be advisable to use diodes to clamp the 555's trigger input to the supply rails and so protect the 555 from over-voltage, since piezo sensors can output tens of volts when hit hard.
 
Here are a couple of suggested circuits based on the one in Ian's link (post #13).
The first should be suitable if the sensor output is several volts for the sort of impact envisaged.
The second includes an amplifying stage to boost the sensor output if it is only 1V or so.
The potentiometer allows adjustment of the LED 'on' time from ~1s to ~3s. R4 or C2 could be increased in value if the 'on' time needed to be increased. The two leads of the sensor may need to be swapped over, depending on the polarity of the pulse it outputs.
ShockTriggeredPulser.gif
ShockTriggeredPulserAmplified.gif
 
The first schematic above looks correct. But I believe the sensor on the second schematic should go to B+ instead of B-.
 
The first schematic above looks correct. But I believe the sensor on the second schematic should go to B+ instead of B-.
But then a 1V signal would not trigger the circuit. N.b. the polarity of the sensor in the second circuit needs to be the reverse of what it is in the first.
 
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