HOLD ON THIS FOR NOW - I messed up my measurement notes so have to retake them and come back...
Firstly, new to this type of thing so if I ask silly questions just point me to the place to learn my errors!
I bought some of these from Home Depot, which in retrospect seems like a terrible idea based on reviews from other sites. They seem to have the same unit repurposed on Amazon and titled "Cop Security 15-946". My goal is to use these to trigger a light if the beam is tripped but so far that's not working. I've put it on a multimeter and the signalling seems odd to me so I was hoping to get some education here.
TESTS
In all tests the device is powered by a 12v 5mah battery wired direct to the unit and the mulitmeter is set on DC voltage test
TEST1
** Multimeter positive lead attached to unit signal wire. Multimeter ground lead attached to battery ground.
*** In non-alarm state, reading is 3.6v
*** In alarm state, reading jumps to about 4.1v but settles back to 3.6v
*** At times (inconsistently) when rapidly removing the item I'm using to block the beam the voltage will drop to 0.3v before returning to 3.6v
TEST2
** Multimeter ground lead attached to unit signal wire. Multimeter positive lead attached to battery positive
*** In non-alarm state, reading is 3.6v
*** In alarm state, reading jumps to about 4.1v but settles back to 3.6v
*** Every time, when rapidly removing the item I'm using to block the beam the voltage will jump to 13+v before returning to 3.6v
I also tried to find the manual on google before I did all of this, but of course that's nowhere to be found. I suspect this might just be a concept I'm unfamiliar with but I can't find the right search terms or material to learn about it. Happy to do a lab too, as I learn better hands on!
My end goal is to light a standard light bulb with it when triggered, perhaps multiples of them eventually through a more complex board like an arduino or pi with a series of these sensors if possible, but first I have to figure out what the heck this signal wire is actually doing
Firstly, new to this type of thing so if I ask silly questions just point me to the place to learn my errors!
I bought some of these from Home Depot, which in retrospect seems like a terrible idea based on reviews from other sites. They seem to have the same unit repurposed on Amazon and titled "Cop Security 15-946". My goal is to use these to trigger a light if the beam is tripped but so far that's not working. I've put it on a multimeter and the signalling seems odd to me so I was hoping to get some education here.
TESTS
In all tests the device is powered by a 12v 5mah battery wired direct to the unit and the mulitmeter is set on DC voltage test
TEST1
** Multimeter positive lead attached to unit signal wire. Multimeter ground lead attached to battery ground.
*** In non-alarm state, reading is 3.6v
*** In alarm state, reading jumps to about 4.1v but settles back to 3.6v
*** At times (inconsistently) when rapidly removing the item I'm using to block the beam the voltage will drop to 0.3v before returning to 3.6v
TEST2
** Multimeter ground lead attached to unit signal wire. Multimeter positive lead attached to battery positive
*** In non-alarm state, reading is 3.6v
*** In alarm state, reading jumps to about 4.1v but settles back to 3.6v
*** Every time, when rapidly removing the item I'm using to block the beam the voltage will jump to 13+v before returning to 3.6v
I also tried to find the manual on google before I did all of this, but of course that's nowhere to be found. I suspect this might just be a concept I'm unfamiliar with but I can't find the right search terms or material to learn about it. Happy to do a lab too, as I learn better hands on!
My end goal is to light a standard light bulb with it when triggered, perhaps multiples of them eventually through a more complex board like an arduino or pi with a series of these sensors if possible, but first I have to figure out what the heck this signal wire is actually doing
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