Light activated switch- replace with momentary switch?

Thread Starter

mudhutbob

Joined Oct 29, 2015
5
Greetings,
I am making a music box and the music playing module is activated by light. I would like to replace the small light activated switch with a regular on/off switch. Is this possible and do I just replace the LOS with a 12v switch? The unit runs on AA batteries. If the switch install wouldn't work... do you think an LED board connected to an on/off switch would work since the music module is light activated? It seems simple enough but I can afford to burn out the module. Mom would kill me. Many thanks...

Bob
 

Thread Starter

mudhutbob

Joined Oct 29, 2015
5
The advertisement says it is a digital music player that runs on batteries. I don't think it is motor driven but it hasn't arrived yet so not positive.
 

AnalogKid

Joined Aug 1, 2013
10,971
If the light sensor is a cadmium-sulphide cell, then probably not; they are not very sensitive to monochromatic light. Maybe with a very bright white LED...

With some close-up pictures (and fine soldering skills on your part), it should be possible to determine where to make some changes.

ak
 

Thread Starter

mudhutbob

Joined Oct 29, 2015
5
The advertisement says it is a digital music player that runs on batteries. I don't think it is motor driven but it hasn't arrived yet so not po
If the light sensor is a cadmium-sulphide cell, then probably not; they are not very sensitive to monochromatic light. Maybe with a very bright white LED...

With some close-up pictures (and fine soldering skills on your part), it should be possible to determine where to make some changes.
It should be here in a few days and I will take some pics then. Would manually connecting an on/off switch to the light sensor leads cause anything to burn up? I assume it would complete the circuit but not quite sure. I can build an LED board and test that too. Just can't afford to replace the music player.
 

AnalogKid

Joined Aug 1, 2013
10,971
If it a CDS cell, it will have a minimum ON resistance that the rest of the circuit might rely on for current limiting of something. If it is a photo transistor, then shorting its location with a switch has a higher probability of not burning up something.

ak
 

Thread Starter

mudhutbob

Joined Oct 29, 2015
5
Hello again,
My music box arrived today and this is what the light sensor looks like. I didn't want to do anything until I heard back but installing a switch in place of the light sensor would be ideal. The sensor works very good so if it is better to just install an LED above the player I will do that. Thanks

Bob

IMG_7671 (Large).JPG
 

Thread Starter

mudhutbob

Joined Oct 29, 2015
5
So... after further research it looks like replacing the cadmium-sulphide cell isn't recommended so I will be using an LED to turn on the music player. I am concerned that running the high speed hobby motor (9v) and also the 3 light LED module (12v) with the same 9 volt battery will wear out the battery too quickly. Basically.... I want to push a momentary switch that will run a 9v motor that spins an object and that also turns on the LED light module so it will run the light activated music player. Is there a way to run each component off a separate 9v battery but have them connected to the same momentary switch? Is there a better way to make this work using a different setup? The more I research the more confused I get. Many thanks

Bob
 
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