Extremely low force disconnect

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

Hi All,

Wasn't sure where to put this. I'm looking to have a tether that attaches to a fixed point on one end and the other end will short a pair connections in my project, the idea being that when this is removed the project will do something (noise/vibrate/lights, whatever, no issue there).

The amount of force needed to remove the tether and thus causing the action in the project needs to be really low. I'm wondering if anyone has a good idea for a connector type that would do this...rather low force to actually be disconnected. Of course most connectors are designed not to disconnect, of course I'm asking for the opposite. I started looking at kill switch tethers, that's sort of the action I want, but since those are real safety devices they're expensive. This has no such safety/life saving requirement, so cheap is fine. I thought of just using a magnet since my project case will be metal, but magnets might not get along with things nearby to the project so that's no good.

Thanks as always.

2

Mount a switch on a bracket and have a simple pin holding it down. The moment the pin is pulled, the microswitch will spring up. Surely this would be simple to achieve.

If you want the ultimate low force devices, you could simply have a piece of paper the size of a piece of confetti, in the slot of an optical slot sensor.

3

micro switch inside the box, a pin that inserts into a little hole, and a way to push the micro switch actuator past the hole and put the pin in the hole....yes...that's great! I knew someone here would have a great idea that was alluding me. Thanks!

4

Or magnet + piece of steel to hold in place - change the distance between magnet and steel
or the magnet size to change force.