Optical punchcard reader and photo transistors

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lesvaden3
 
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Optical punchcard reader and photo transistors

Post by lesvaden3 »

Hi.
Is it possible to wire 10 of your “Reflective Infrared IR Optical Sensor with 470 and 10K Resistors”(PRODUCT ID: 2349) to one micro controller so that a punchcard could be read? Or would it be better to buy the photo transistors and leds separately and wire them on opposite sides of one another? Also is there a suggested microcontroller for this? I’ve been thinking that I could create a circuit python punchcard reading HID device to interact with the terminal on a raspberry pi. Sort of like the punchcard reader on an old teletype asr model 33. I want to create a keyboard with an attached punchcard reader. Just because I think it might be possible to emulate that older technology in a smaller form factor

Thank you for everything you do. I appreciate you guys so much.

-Lesley

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lesvaden3
 
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Re: Optical punchcard reader and photo transistors

Post by lesvaden3 »

Like a punchcard reading macropad

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Optical punchcard reader and photo transistors

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The ones we carry are aligned for best detection at a couple of mm. There are smaller ones tuned for closer operation that would likely work better. DigiKey & Mouser carry hundreds of different types.

That said, I think LEDs & photo transistors on opposite sides of the card would work better. There is an example of that here on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.com/2014/11/21/tweet-m ... nch-cards/

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lesvaden3
 
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Re: Optical punchcard reader and photo transistors

Post by lesvaden3 »

Sounds good. Thank you for helping me. I will def buy everything that I can from you guys and will get the transistors with them.

I really appreciate you.

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