But if the beam is larger than the ball then surely the ball won't completely obscure the beam?
Of course it would reduce the intensity slightly but will it be enough to detect?
If it clips the side of the beam it might not be enough to trigger it, so doesn't that mean the beam needs to be larger than the area you want to monitor?
Here's a sketch of my mirror idea.
I've not done this before so you could be right, it might be a bad idea.
But if the beam is larger than the ball then surely the ball won't completely obscure the beam?
Of course it would reduce the intensity slightly but will it be enough to detect?
If it clips the side of the beam it might not be enough to trigger it, so doesn't that mean the beam needs to be larger than the area you want to monitor?
Here's a sketch of my mirror idea.
I've not done this before so you could be right, it might be a bad idea.
since jumping over the beam is not a problem then I see no use for any of the suggestions to fix that problem thanks though.
For the modulated and pulsed emitter I might need to ask for some other explanation. Sorry but I am still quite a nub and google wont help me to figure out what they do. I would guess that it means that the transmitter sends the signal in waves, but it allready does that, I saw it on my oscillator.
Umm... Just a suggestion here... The sun does NOT put out DC frequencies... The frequency component, is quiet active in the low frequency range. There is little to nothing you can do if the receiver itself will be directly in sunlight, between the massive DC offset of the sheer power of the light it's receiver compared to the transmitter and the frequency components that are present you'll be lucky to sense anything.
Acoustic methods?
Even though pulsed emission is the way to go here(as like a TV remote control), I'd find the LDR option is also practical as you told it works well at increased gain conf.
Even though pulsed emission is the way to go here(as like a TV remote control), I'd find the LDR option is also practical as you told it works well at increased gain conf. View attachment 41637
ah thanks Ill try look more into that. I have to figure out how to make the LDR give me 8v in shade and around 11,5v in direct sunlight. I do have some ideas for that.
Last week I told a guy to funnel the passageway down and let the ball run over a microswitch. If you can't narrow the passage, 8 inches is probably narrow enough to make a mechanical sensor.
If going with the LDR you are aware that it won't work when its cloudy.
Look at using a voltage comparator circuit for your LDR (cDs cell).
very simple to build.
There is little to nothing you can do if the receiver itself will be directly in sunlight, between the massive DC offset of the sheer power of the light it's receiver compared to the transmitter and the frequency components that are present you'll be lucky to sense anything.