Hello,
Does anyone know if phototransistors can pick up vibration just like they do with light? I seriously doubt this but I've had an argument with someone and I want another opinion.
Thanks
No they can't.
It might be possible that a vibrating sensor will pick up variable amounts of light due to physical movement especially if it is mounted with long leads. But there is no mechanism where it can pick up vibrations.
In the old days vacuum tubes (valves) could be microphonic due to physical modulation of the heater elements.
That's what I thought. Either the phototransistor moves enough to pick a different level of light or the vibration found a weak point like a bad joint somewhere in the circuit and that's what is causing the signal noise.
Thank you!
Hi, Also possible second-order effects: If the vibration causes some voltage variations in other components it may SEEM like it's from the phototransistor.
I once had vibration-induced noise on a measurement tool at IBM, which was caused by the big XY table vibrating Other Stuff..