Triggering a reed switch at a distance...

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starhawk

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
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Making an electronic puzzle as a birthday present for a friend who is not on [H] ;)

I have a "reed switch" (I use that term loosely, it's not even encapsulated) from a Dollar Tree window alarm. I can trigger it if I get a hard drive voice-coil magnet real real close -- but I need to trigger it through a piece of cheap wood (I suspect it's balsa) about 3/8" thick...

How do I do that, on the super-cheap and without ordering from China?
 
Try a neodymium magnet. If it wont work alone then stick one on the switch and use the polar opposite to actuate it. Take apart an old busted HDD for them.
 
SOLVED in a really ghetto way.

I'll just say for now that it involves stove bolts and their corresponding nuts and washers from a hardware assortment... and a dollar store zip tie :D
 
I was gonna say you need something to contain the magnetic field through the wood. So drill a hole from the inside of the wood *almost* all the way through, and fill it with a piece of steel or other magnetically-permeable substance. Mount the reed switch on the inside of the wood on top of the metal. That way, the magnetic fields will get through to the reed switch.
 
Update... found a real reed switch, worked great -- but a different part of the puzzle box didn't. So it's on the list of things for me to rebuild when I have the chance in a week or two. (I've got another project in front of it...) Should be interesting...
 
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