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Cheap Little Ball Switches — Parallax Forums

Cheap Little Ball Switches

Vibration Sensor Double Ball Rolling Electronic Shaking Switch

10 pcs for ~80 cents US. I tested some, very sensitive to tilt. Works just like a mercury switch with much less hysteresis (stiction), not to mention more environmentally friendly. I measured ~0.5 ohms at a very slight tilt. I'll hoard more of these "poor man's accelerometers". When shaken (not stirred) you can hear the balls inside a bit. ~0.500" long x 0.150" dia.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272706541370

Related: just saw these and ordered. Sounds like it has a vibration contact spring inside instead of balls. 20 for a buck is worth checking out IMO: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201070228446

s-l1600.jpg

Comments

  • Can't fault erco for finding a good deal for us! I might have to get a few of these myself.

    The free shipping bit should be of concern to all Americans. It's the dreaded ePacket 5 oz. package, something brokered between the USPS and Chinese government years ago. Add in a tad bit of Chinese subsidy and they can fill our landfills for free, while we pay for it. This falls into the category of a "bad deal" and should probably be fixed by our government.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    High praise from Monsieur Gracey!

    Another interesting factoid I just discovered is that the ball switches are not magnetic. I'm using them near a large magnetic speaker and I was sure it would be a problem but not so. My backup plan was to use mercury switches, but fortunately I can save those for another day.

    (Psst, yes, mercury switches can still be bought from Ebay China.)
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    edited 2017-08-03 00:52
    erco wrote: »
    (Psst, yes, mercury switches can still be bought from Ebay China.)


    I hope we have evolved for a need for such a thing, with it's rep and all.

    I remember a classmate in grade school brought a perscription bottle(snap lid), with about a tablespoon of Mercury in it. He never told the teacher, nor did anyone else.

    I don't remember handling it or know of anyone else that did.

    But I wonder what ever happened to the kid that was messing around with that nasty stuff.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2017-08-03 01:01
    Quicksilver rules!

    2728119-tumblr_mdwb1i59px1qiknbco1_1280.jpg
  • I used to play with mercury. There was a large jar of it in the basement.

    ˙ǝuᴉɟ ʇsnɾ ʇno pǝuɹnʇ I
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    hahahahaha

    Howja do dat?
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2017-08-03 02:54
    I̢̥̠̲̫͔͇̻̟͜t҉̷̙͚̰̭̲̤̹̠ ͏̷̷̢̛͖̣̞͙̝̫͖̫ͅͅẃ̨̝̼̙͙̳͓̼̯̥̲͓̪̕̕͠a̢̝̭̺̦̩s͏͔̫̬̫ ̨̢̧̞̲͚̰̩̘̗̞͎̤͖͟e̶̛̞̖̹̭͔̣͠a̜͓̳͉̳̬̪̤͍͘ś̨̭̺̗͖͍͕̼̯̰ỳ͝͏̧̛̹̠̹͓͕̲̜͎̺ ̸͎̤͖̙͍̭̼̬͍̬͚̦h̴̺̩̠͕̮t̷̛̩͈͎͖̳̬̱̺̹͓̜͈̝̜͓͇̻̩͇̀͞͝t̸̛͡͠҉̖̦͈̳̦̝p̶̧͘͠͏͇̞̻͈̰̞̗͖:̴̶̫̬̜͘͠/̶͡҉̧̭̮̰̦̲̙̖̟̰/̠̞̭̟̗̟̫͈̺͙̲̲̖̮̺́̕͢ẁ̡̢̥̗̯͕͈̳̠͇̱̤̦̞̣͇͙̠̫̪͘ẃ̢҉͎͕͍͇͈̟͎w͢͏͙̩̞̞̦̱.̲̮̩̝̻͜͟ư͇̩̫̹̱̤̲̙̺̮̘̙̺p̡̼̹͔̮̩̺̞͇̹̠̲̳̠͢ͅs̢̖̪̲͉̯͉̖͍̱̤͘͞i̧̱͓͖̠̖͎̱̦͈͖̯͓̰͢͢d̴̪̯̩̤́e̵̤̭̗̣̲̞̻̭̳̠̭̮͍̠̳͞͠d̡̛̪̣̼̬͉̬̭̝o͟͞͏͓̮̺̞̘̹̬̜̖͙w͏͠҉̛̛̬͉̪͙̺͔ͅn̷̷̛͉̪̼̦͍̥̦̩͈̕͞t̸̵̲̻̖͈͙̘̟͇̤͓͘͜͡e͡͏̛̠͚̯͍̫̜̗̦͇̀x̨̡̛̲̘͈͍͚̳̖t̺̰͙̪̟̜̣̻̙̩̬̖̠́͠.̶̧̨͘͏̲͈̹͚̖͕̖̼̝̪͕͕̯̱̤͎̱c҉҉͠҉̯͖̠̫́ơ҉̲̟̮̥̩̪̬͔̤̱̭m҉̸̢͈̩͖͔͚̖̦̯̟̟̲̭̙͟͡/͖̣̤̥̞͖̯̙̞͔͞͞

    or http://www.upsidedowntext.com/
  • Before any moderators ban me for nonsense posts, I am working on some Parallax related stuff :)
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    You must always view the Matrix encoded...
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    Ah Unicode. It will be the death of us all.

  • ˙sʞuᴉɥʇ ǝɯ 'ooʇ ʞO ʇno pǝuɹnʇ

    Looks a little rusky.

    ˙ɔᴉɥdɐɹƃ ǝɥʇ ǝʌo˥ ,erco
  • Heater. wrote: »
    Ah Unicode. It will be the death of us all.

  • JasonDorieJasonDorie Posts: 1,930
    edited 2017-08-07 22:17
    Among other things, I was responsible for extracting glyphs from TrueType and OpenType fonts for our game at the last company I worked for. I still have this mug at my desk:
    Unicode.jpg
    404 x 539 - 45K
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    As a kid, I had a tiny bottle with about 1/4 teaspoon of mercury in it. No idea what happened to it tho' !
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