Sensor Enclosures

[PTB]

Hi guys,

While I am waiting for storm season, thought I might share this if anyone is interested.

I have been messing around with sensor enclosures.
After I had made my sensors, they seemmed a little fragile. I wanted to be able to throw them in my
secondary camera bag along with the camera axe itself.

So I grabbed some small enclosure boxes and put in the sensors and a 3.5mm jack. They are now pretty robust.
This also saved on doubling up cables. I now just have a group of cables of differing lengths to use as needed.

The Sensors from Left to right are...

Sound, Photogate, Lightning (Phototransistor) and Motion.



But....The main reason I got the camera axe was to do lightning photography.

So I also made an additional lightning sensor that fits directly onto the camera eyepiece.

Grabbed another enclosure and a collimator and a spare eyepiece from ebay.



My thinking was that I could get the phototransistor to be more sensitive by putting it at the focal point of the collimator.
I have since read that the photo transistors aren't that sensitive from the side and are most sensitive head on.
But I used it anyway. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out though those hot glue guns can get messy if you aren't careful.

I just slide off the standard viewpiece and then slide on the eyepiece sensor and hook it up. All good.







Cheers

PTB

[Maurice]

This is great work! I like the lightning sensor the most. Using the eyepiece was clever.

Thanks for sharing.

[strath]

I bought a few of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... AQ:US:1123

To use for the same purpose. I bought 4 in case I screwed a couple up, but it turns out the rubber eye cup just pulls off, so it'll work perfectly. I'll get the rest of what I need this weekend and build it. What IR phototransistor and what size resistor did you use?

[Maurice]

I didn't use an IR photo transistor since I wanted it to be sensitive to the visible light spectrum and the IR spectrum. Here is the one I used: http://mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail. ... z01VKy8%3d

[PTB]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback Maurice. I had some pretty lame ideas before this one hit.

Strath, I used Maurice's guide for the light sensor.
http://www.glacialwanderer.com/_blog/blog2009/12_December/Light_sensor_schematic.png

I tried to get one of those phototransistor's from Maurice's link but the website said they wouldn't send that item to Australia. I'm not sure why.
So I tried good old ebay and found this item.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/20-Items-3mm-Photo-Transistors-/310163601695?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item483730f91f
They work great for both IR and visible light. And I thought were a great price. Not only that they generously gave me a bonus 2nd packet of 20 which was 40 in total.
Something to do with no VAT being applicable or something so they gave me a bonus.
Thats a lot of light sensors I now have to make

The collimator was this item
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/25MM-LED-Lighting-Lens-Luxeon-Plastic-Reflector-/180522626418?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item2a07fcad72

Still no lightning but it should start in the next 2 to 3 months.

Cheers

PTB

[strath]

OK, got all the bits except a suitable enclosure now. I'm using 3.5mm stereo jacks and plugs to make it modular as well. Simple, standard, and then I don't have to try and solder on the plugs, which for some reason I've always had a problem with.