Hi all, new to Arduino and looking forward to getting into it.
I'd like to use a shop's open/close sign as a trigger for Arduino fun - flipping the sign to spark off events. However, I'm struggling to know what to Google (hence why I'm here) as I can't settle on a plausibility of an approach.
What's the best type of sensor to achieve this? Essentially, I just need one side of the sign to complete a connection but it needs to a subtle design for the gimmick to be affective and also accommodate for the movement occurred after the user has flipped it.
I'm not really sure what you are trying to do. Are you talking about flipping a paper/plastic sign around in a window, and that acting as the trigger? If so, you would probably want an accelerometer to do it, but if you are trying to be subtle, that may require some extensive creativity if you don't want it noticed. Hobbyist electronics are small, but they aren't tiny, and what you would need would have to be really tiny not to be noticed.
Possibly you could replace the mounting hook with a switch, but that depends on your hook.
In this particular scenario the sign is hung on a wall rather than a window so there's potential to place some kind of sensor on the wall. When I first envisaged the idea I thought simply of tin foil on one side of the sign to complete a circuit on the wall (though I imagine that would produce a lot of bounce when the sign swings as it's flipped)
Maybe you could figure something out with a reed switch and a magnet? If you have control over the design of the sign then you ought to be able to arrange that there is a magnet close to the reed switch in one position and not in the other.
PeterH:
Maybe you could figure something out with a reed switch and a magnet? If you have control over the design of the sign then you ought to be able to arrange that there is a magnet close to the reed switch in one position and not in the other.
That's what I was just thinking! Maybe a magnet on the lower-left corner of sign (as an example) and a reed switch on wall so it will only line up when one side of sign is flipped. Then code will read it as "open" or "closed". Hehe....actually have the switch be "open" when sign says "OPEN" for consistency??
Or....my other thought was a color sensor? If one side is different color than the other. Or, if could put a small square of a certain color on one side?
But, magnet & reed switch is probably best/easiest. And...if mount reed switch in/behind a strip of metal...could even use the magnet to secure the sign better and keep it from accidentally flipping or moving on it's own. Just an added bonus?
