Conductive Contacts with Copper Foil Tape

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needlessdynamite
 
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Conductive Contacts with Copper Foil Tape

Post by needlessdynamite »

Hi All. I'm building a small toy/project for my son. I want to demonstrate how closing a circuit enables an LED to turn on. I can do this easily with a breadboard, power source, and LED but that's not every fun for him to play with. Instead, the idea is to house the power source (a CR2032 battery) inside one wooden block and an LED embedded in another wooden block. The two blocks will have conductive contacts exposed on one side. When the two blocks are pressed together (with the right orientation) the circuit is closed and power flows from one block to another, lighting the LED.

I have a simple prototype using cardboard squares, 6mm copper foil tape (purchased from adafruit), a bare LED and 330 ohm resistor. The copper foil tape is laid out and stuck on the blocks to create conductive leads that line up with one another. I'm using the adhesive side of the tape to connect to the battery pack leads on one block and the adhesive side to the LED on the other.

The issue I'm having is the lack of consistency of lighting the LED when the blocks are touching. Even when I've aligned them perfectly, it hardly works. All the guides I've looked at online show using the tape to create a single circuit in place - which is different than my project. Should I just be soldering to the copper foil instead of relying on the adhesive? Is the idea of a circuit split in two not a good one? I'm just looking for some guidance on whether its my implementation with the copper foil and trying to improve the connections or find a different solution. Thanks y'all.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Conductive Contacts with Copper Foil Tape

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Try putting a couple of magnets behind the copper foil. That will provide some force to hold the copper contacts together.

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needlessdynamite
 
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Re: Conductive Contacts with Copper Foil Tape

Post by needlessdynamite »

Thanks for the reply. Ah, that’s an interesting idea. I’ll experiment with adding magnets and see if that helps give me better contact.

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