Any IR beam break sensors smaller than 3mm
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- mromero
- Posts: 94
- Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 12:10 pm
Any IR beam break sensors smaller than 3mm
I am trying to develop a counter using adafruits metro ATMeba328, adafruits Bluetooth shield and SD card shield. I was going to purchase the IR break beam sensor with 3mm LEDS but after noticing the the housing size it wont fit on my project. I have an opening distance of 4mm. and barely have space for the 3mm LED the housing on this sensor is too big. Does anyone know what model LED's they are? I can fit the 3mm LED on my housing but the rest of whatever resistors and capacitors normally live in the adafruit housing i will need to connect externally via long leads.
- adafruit_support_mike
- Posts: 67454
- Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:51 pm
Re: Any IR beam break sensors smaller than 3mm
The transmitter side is an IR LED, and the receiver side is a phototransistor. Both are general enough that you don't need specific part numbers.
If you're working in a tight space, you may want to build your own version of the sensor using SMD components:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/fil ... OAYxABfGUA (IR LEDs)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/fil ... E50bBQxMSA (phototransistors)
You'll also need some resistors.. maybe 180R for the LED, and 100k for the phototransistor. 0805 SMT resistors are easy to find though, and the most common ones (1% tolerance thick-film resistors) usually cost less than $1 per 100:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/fil ... Zoel3akaaA
0805 SMT components aren't all that hard to work with. They fit between pads on 0.1" protoboard:
https://www.adafruit.com/?q=protoboard&sort=BestMatch
so they aren't any harder to solder than the pins of through-hole components.
If you're working in a tight space, you may want to build your own version of the sensor using SMD components:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/fil ... OAYxABfGUA (IR LEDs)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/fil ... E50bBQxMSA (phototransistors)
You'll also need some resistors.. maybe 180R for the LED, and 100k for the phototransistor. 0805 SMT resistors are easy to find though, and the most common ones (1% tolerance thick-film resistors) usually cost less than $1 per 100:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/fil ... Zoel3akaaA
0805 SMT components aren't all that hard to work with. They fit between pads on 0.1" protoboard:
https://www.adafruit.com/?q=protoboard&sort=BestMatch
so they aren't any harder to solder than the pins of through-hole components.
- mromero
- Posts: 94
- Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 12:10 pm
Re: Any IR beam break sensors smaller than 3mm
thanks for the reply. I was just wondering what the hole at the bottom of your if break beam sensor is for? Can it be used as a mounting hole?
- adafruit_support_mike
- Posts: 67454
- Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:51 pm
Re: Any IR beam break sensors smaller than 3mm
Yes, the holes are for mounting screws.
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.