http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=321057014772
I won 10 of those on a 90c bid! Free postage too.
The flimsy wire threw me off, I thought that tiny wire simply got knocked around touching the other pin/leg, it seems that it really is juat a flimsy leg and the shake internals do the real job.
It should be ok to mount one in a letter box to detect the postman? He has to lift the top up to put letters in..
It should be ok to mount one in a letter box to detect the postman? He has to lift the top up to put letters in..
You'll have to experiment to see it there's enough vibration to trigger the switch. There's no adjustment, so if it's too sensitive the wind or a bird landing on the mailbox might trigger it.
Then depending on what you want to do, you may not need an Arduino. i.e. If you just want to latch-on an LED or lamp, you could use a flip-flop, or if you wanted to trigger a buzzer for a few seconds you could use an ME555 as a timer, etc. The Arduino can do these things too, but the it's more expensive if you want to something simple that can be done without a lot of logic & programming.
Since you have 10, I would put on in each plane. then monitor each and log which ones react most reliably.
my guess is the one standing straight up or down. my postman slams the door of my box and it shakes front to back. also trucks would make it bounce up and down. I would think one in the horizontal position would react to that.
interesting project.
10 trembler switches? You'll be on someone's list now 
Dave yeah, for 90c I can mount all 10 in, probably be able to detect earthquakes lol
As for lists, I love them providing my ip is not in it 
lol