Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Larger substitute of a photo transistor/resistor

Johny

Aug 2, 2012
2
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
2
Hello,
Me and my buddies have been working on a laser tag project, but our ideas stopped at the sensor part. I've seen a couple of DIY laser tag sensors, but they all use a small illuminated dome of 2-3 photoresistors. The idea is to find "something" that could cover a larger area of your body, without the need to be illuminated so instead of a small illuminated dome you would have to hit a large sensor. We tried using a silicon block to spread out the light before entering the transistor, but that improved the range to ~2 cm (an inch). So if you know any good light diffusing/conducting materials - please let us know ;)

The game would be played in the dark, so any kind of light sensor would be acceptable.

I suppose another option is a solar cell, used in solar panels, but could that be used as a light sensor?

Thanks in advice,
Johny
 

GreenGiant

Feb 9, 2012
842
Joined
Feb 9, 2012
Messages
842
Hello,
Me and my buddies have been working on a laser tag project, but our ideas stopped at the sensor part. I've seen a couple of DIY laser tag sensors, but they all use a small illuminated dome of 2-3 photoresistors. The idea is to find "something" that could cover a larger area of your body, without the need to be illuminated so instead of a small illuminated dome you would have to hit a large sensor. We tried using a silicon block to spread out the light before entering the transistor, but that improved the range to ~2 cm (an inch). So if you know any good light diffusing/conducting materials - please let us know ;)

The game would be played in the dark, so any kind of light sensor would be acceptable.

I suppose another option is a solar cell, used in solar panels, but could that be used as a light sensor?

Thanks in advice,
Johny

You could potentially use solar cells as light sense but it would be a minute change with lasers.

If you are using lasers you could try using a translucent white plastic setup (something like a white glow light bulb, you can see the filament if you look at it, but the light diffuses throughout the whole thing), from this you should be able to use infrared sensors, nice sensitive ones, that way it should be more sensitive, and less likely to accidentally trip
 

Johny

Aug 2, 2012
2
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
2
You could potentially use solar cells as light sense but it would be a minute change with lasers.

If you are using lasers you could try using a translucent white plastic setup (something like a white glow light bulb, you can see the filament if you look at it, but the light diffuses throughout the whole thing), from this you should be able to use infrared sensors, nice sensitive ones, that way it should be more sensitive, and less likely to accidentally trip

Thank you for the quick reply!
We tried the plastic, but silicon seemed to work better. Might try a thicker layer though
 
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