Please Help! Moisture sensor to circuit breaker.

Thread Starter

Circuithittingme

Joined Jan 6, 2016
5
Ok so bare with me because I am a complete philistine with no working knowledge of this stuff.

I study at an art school, and for my interim show in a little over a week I am organising a performance which will involve a load of emaciated art students spitting down a staircase within my school. The performance will be organised so that each of the performers has a number, and they will spit as their number is called from a speaker system placed at the top of the stairs. What I would like to happen is for there to be a moisture sensor at the bottom of the stairs, which will be triggered by the large quantity of saliva, and (this is the part I am struggling with) would link to a circuit breaker at the power source for the speaker system. The sensor would therefore act as a kill switch for the performance as whole, ending it and rendering the speaker system inert for the rest of the show.

Is this possible? If so how? and is there any form of ready made version of this which I could buy on the cheap?

Thanks very much to who ever answers this, hope it will be entertaining and not annoying for that special someone who takes the challenge.

Joe
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
Your first post; welcome to AAC!

I'd buy a leak detector (about $10US) and modify it to disable the alarm and use it to trigger a latch to disconnect the speaker or turn off whatever is driving it. Not that I in any way condone spitting; even for it's "artistic" value...
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
Just use a regular lamp timer...
That gives you a "fixed" performance time..
I can't imagine anyone staying around for the hours it will take to have sufficient saliva to trigger whatever device you cobble together..
 

Thread Starter

Circuithittingme

Joined Jan 6, 2016
5
I don't know, I've done this a few times and you'd be surpised how much saliva builds up on the floor with even just a few people spitting. I'll do some research and see what I can do.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
:rolleyes: Artists... o_O
Whats the point/message or whatever of your "show"?
"Lives of Spitters Matter" ?
"Art is just about used up" ?

I only mentioned a "fixed time" because #1 is simple and #2 I can't imagine how long it could possibly take for a group of people spitting a "distance" and having enough "accuracy" to get that spit to actually become a "localized wet area".. But I've never sat around with multiple people spitting on anything.. o_O
I can't believe I'm actually posting on this.. :(
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
Thanks v much dl324. Is a latch a switch?
I was thinking more along the lines of a flip flop. You could hack the sensor to access the signal that triggers the alarm, or you could use the alarm output to trigger the latch.

I'd put the leak detector in a tray so it wouldn't take much saliva to trigger. You can "control" activation time by having people intentionally miss the tray.
 

Thread Starter

Circuithittingme

Joined Jan 6, 2016
5
Ok thanks dl324 I'll give that a try. The timer version would work but only if I was trying to fake the spit ending the performance as a whole. the bottom of the stairs is a slope so the saliva all stays pretty localised to one area anyway. Not so much a point mcgyver as an interest in the affect of it/how scoring something works/whether a disrespectful act like spitting can be emptied of its content as such. I understand if its not of interest to you, nor do I think it is particularly 'deep' or 'meaningful', its more a collection of interests for myself, which I am experimenting with and following, much as you do on this site with circuits and their potential.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
Ok thanks dl324 I'll give that a try. The timer version would work but only if I was trying to fake the spit ending the performance as a whole.
Or you could fake it and have a mechanical switch that someone could use to force the speaker to be disconnected at the appropriate time.
 

Nathaniel Zhu

Joined Oct 16, 2015
21
uhhhhhh. Maybe do some sort of trampoling thing so that when the spit builds up, the "trampoling" gets pulled downwards into a flame that burns up the trampoling and then all the spit sloshes down and causes short circuits in all your electrical devices.

That would be HILARIOUS! but you'd need a lot of spit for that.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Ok so bare with me because I am a complete philistine with no working knowledge of this stuff.

I study at an art school, and for my interim show in a little over a week I am organising a performance which will involve a load of emaciated art students spitting down a staircase within my school. The performance will be organised so that each of the performers has a number, and they will spit as their number is called from a speaker system placed at the top of the stairs. What I would like to happen is for there to be a moisture sensor at the bottom of the stairs, which will be triggered by the large quantity of saliva, and (this is the part I am struggling with) would link to a circuit breaker at the power source for the speaker system. The sensor would therefore act as a kill switch for the performance as whole, ending it and rendering the speaker system inert for the rest of the show.

Is this possible? If so how? and is there any form of ready made version of this which I could buy on the cheap?

Thanks very much to who ever answers this, hope it will be entertaining and not annoying for that special someone who takes the challenge.

Joe

Will you have tested everyone for Hep'C and tuberculosis before the spitting begins?
 

Nathaniel Zhu

Joined Oct 16, 2015
21
I wonder why police are so worried about getting spit on and why, IIRC, China started cracking down on people spitting in public?
Yeah China is crazy about HIV people. They're terrified about HIV+ people. My mom too, but their fears are unreasonable and based on decades old misconceptions.

The police in the US aren't medical/biology trained. You don't even need a degree to become a policeman. There's a lot of fear and ignorance in their heads
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
their fears are unreasonable and based on decades old misconceptions.
Now I know there are no documented cases where HIV was transmitted through saliva, but that doesn't mean I'd want to be around an HIV positive person who spits...

While I was researching this topic, I came across an article where an HIV positive man in Texas was sentenced to 35 years in prison for spitting on a police officer. Since he was charged for assault with a deadly weapon, he has to serve half of his sentence before being eligible for parole. Probably better for society anyway; he was a habitual offender.
 
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