I am trying to turn on and off an LED that is contained within a small sack of sand. I am seeking a switch or sensor that will help me accomplish this goal.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

 

A tilt switch might do the job. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161783779727?hash=item25ab10918f:g:S68AAOSwUdlWgH~S
Also maybe you could use an electret microphone but that is going to need extra circuitry - amplifier, level detect...

 

Vibration switch

This is just an example, not saying it is appropriate for your application, but some vibration switch might work for you.

Bob

 

Thank you Bob. A vibration or shake switch just might be the thing I'm looking for.

 

Check out the huge selection of Sensors for Car-Alarms.
Glass-Breakage, Short-Range-Field-Disturbance ( sometimes called "Radar"), Vibration, Tilt, etc., etc..
They're cheap and easy to work with.
.
.
.

 

A piezo disc connected to the gate of a small MOSFET will probably work.
But how will you know if the LED has illuminated?

 

Since you open and close an electronic circuit then do you turn on and turn off a door??

 

Since you open and close an electronic circuit then do you turn on and turn off a door??

Curiously, "thyristor" is derived from the Greek θύρα meaning a door

But you open and close a switch or a relay.

 

A switch is usually marked "on" and "off".
I used a relay 55 years ago, I remember its contacts were sparking.

 

A switch is usually marked "on" and "off".

On the front it is marked "on" and "off", but the terminals are marked "n/o" and "n/c"

 

Check out the huge selection of Sensors for Car-Alarms.
Glass-Breakage, Short-Range-Field-Disturbance ( sometimes called "Radar"), Vibration, Tilt, etc., etc..
They're cheap and easy to work with.
.
.
.

Thank you for this suggestion.

 

A piezo disc connected to the gate of a small MOSFET will probably work.
But how will you know if the LED has illuminated?

Thanks for the suggestion! The LED will illuminate the fabric to create a soft glow that will be visible.

 

I'm for the shaker switch - a spring inside a tube. When the tube is shaken the spring touches the side and triggers a circuit. But with your desire to do this once and have it on and one more time to have it off - a shaker switch isn't the best option. UNLESS you seal the shaker inside a non-conductive oil to dampen the movement. Then a single whack on the side will trigger it. Then another whack and it can toggle it back off. I'd think a Double D type Flip Flop (DDFF) with the /Q tied to the D (Not-Q & Data). Every time you clock the DDFF you will change states.

Now, for the LED - depends on how much current the DDFF can handle and how much current you want to drive your LED with.

THEN there's the issue of power. Battery? Inside a sealed container? Rechargeable? How will you recharge it? If not - how will you replace the battery? A hatch with a screw cover? Just a few things I can think of that need to be considered in your project.

 

An additional comment on the shaker switch - - - my cats have a bunch of toys that make some sort of noise whenever they play with them. Batteries have gone dead in a few and I've taken them apart to replace the battery. They're just a simple tube with a light weight spring inside. The one end is sealed with an epoxy and the other end is just open. When the toy is played with it triggers a circuit with a pre-recorded sound to stimulate the cats. Something similar - with just a single closure to trigger a timed program. It lasts about a second, so the spring is not making contact for long, just for the moment. That's probably enough, but to insure with the DDFF you're not triggering and retriggering it over and over in a single whacking event.

 

If it is low power, you can look at kids super balls with LEDs in them. They usually just have a lightweight spring soldered to the PCB and a pin coming up from the center of the spring. Any bounce, causes the spring to touch the pin. That connection starts a low current timer like a CD4538 or similar monostable multivibrator or microcontroller. The LEDs stay on (flash) for a specific period and then sleeps again.

again, they are kids super balls from the dollar store so this is about as inexpensive as it gets.

 

But with your desire to do this once and have it on and one more time to have it off - a shaker switch isn't the best option. UNLESS you seal the shaker inside a non-conductive oil to dampen the movement.

I do not require that the LED turn on and off. Rather that the switch triggers an NE555 to keep the LED on for a duration. Thanks for prompting me to be more clear in explaining my needs for this project.

And an interesting idea to dampen a spring switch with oil. Thanks.

 

On the front it is marked "on" and "off", but the terminals are marked "n/o" and "n/c"

Good point.