Tilt Sensing Circuit

[bgoat]

Tilt Sensing Circuit. I am looking to build a small, battery powered tilt sensing circuit-on a small board-that can detect when the object it is mounted to deviates by some set limit off of vertical. I have built a crude prototype with a mercury switch built it is much to bulky and "stone age" looking. I am envisioning an accelerometer whose output can be compared to varying limits (set by potentiometers?). When the degree of tilt exceeds the preset limit, a light or buzzer, etc. is powered. Any ideas out there?

 

[automatic2]

your mecury switches are the right tool for the job. You could also hang a small pendulumn between two photo switches.

 

[rodar]

Hi
digi key is selling a tilt sensor by sharp
digi key #425-1045-5-ND
$1.95 each

 

[Warpspeed]

What sort of angular displacement are we talking about here ?

Is it rough like +/- 5 degrees, or is it ultra sensitive like seconds of arc ?

 

[bgoat]

Warpspeed,
This is rough measurement, large angles ~45+/-. It is intended for use in keeping an obeject within set limits about one axis while it is rotating slowly around a secons axis. The rotation about the second axis is the problem I had with the mercury switch. I had read that accelerometers have been used in the automotive industry to sense tilt successfully. I am interested in making a small, light, portable, battery operated device for my application. All ideas welcome!

 

[IRstuff]

Electrolytic tilt sensors are small and accurate to 1 degree. Cars are probably using gyros, but for slow angle changes, you'd need to use a conventional tilt sensor to take out the drift of the gyro.

TTFN

 

[buzzp]

For off the shelf solutions see the following, they may also have some tech notes to help some.

http://www.frederickscom.com/

http://www.tilt-measurement.com/

http://www.matrixproductdev.com/

 

[Electricliff]

Might be stoneage but a pendulum fixed to the shaft of a qood quality rotary potentiometer gives an output which you can scale to whatever FSD you want.
Mount two such units at right angles and with a bit of computation you can calculate the two dimensional tilt.
Put it all in a bucket of oil if you want to damp it.

Have fun.