I have an IR operated garbage can, trouble is the sensor is too sensitive and it opens whenever you walk by. How can I reduce the sensitivity of the IR receiver so I have to put my hand very close to the sensor before the lid opens?
tia
Try various thicknesses of different plastics , clear or opaque, but not polythene, over the sensor
-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
Or different colours of electricians' self-adhesive PVC tape.
Arfa
Or drink loads of chilled beer to lower ye body temperature....
-- Adrian C
That type of Selotape which is translucent milky white on the reel, but almost invisible when used, is pretty good. Just use as many layers as are required to obtain the required sensitivity. It also works well for annoyingly high-intensity LED indicators on the front of STBs and the like.
-- Ian
Partly cover the pickup?
Hi, thanks for the tips, they all make some sense to me. I'll try them out as I get materials!
Thanks again,
Norm
try clear tape
I have used black electrical tape. I start by partialy covering the sensor window, and increasing how much it is covered to reduce the sensitivity.
Jerry G.
We used to use exposed Kodachrome. Got any bad old slides ??
greg
How about 20 pounds of scrap, undeveloped Lithographic film?
-- http://improve-usenet.org/index.html If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in your account: http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm Sporadic E is the Earth\'s aluminum foil beanie for the \'global warming\' sheep.
I haven't seen it suggested yet, you could try breaking open a floppy disk and use the media as a filter. The media in a floppy lets IR through, just not so well and it sounds like what you are after.
I just checked it with an image converter, you may need a few layers.
Thor
I've tried various amounts of scotch tape, but just putting the tape over the sensor activates it, and it never resets. I.e. I turned the device off, placed tape over sensor in varying levels and positions but when I turn the device on, it opens and refuses to close. Sigh.
I look at some of the other suggestions, thanks for your help!
Norm
have tried aluminum or stainless foil/tape
do you know how it works? I'd expect it to be passive, but the tape keeping it on suggests active? If it's passive, there needs to be some means to track ambient conditions and react to change. Attenuation will decrease SNR but probably not do what you want. I'd look at baffles/reflective surfaces to point the detection zone away from where you are.
The low-tech solution might be to rotate the can.
Or fill it with cold beer. Then you'd want it to open when you go by. If the tool don't fit the job, change the job...
Better yet, take out the batteries. Some things just don't benefit from automation. ;-) mike
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.