Unconventional Switch: Team 8

 

Alright, our unconventional switch is an earbuds case. This case only tells us its battery level with the integrated LEDs… But what it fails to show is if the earbuds are actually charging when inside the case. Our assumption is that it only charges when the case is closed.

 The purpose of our project is to add an external signal that lets us know if the case is closed and the buds are charging. That signal will be a single LED that lights up when the case closes and turns off when the case opens

Here we are powering a white LED with a CPB. The LED is on a breadboard that is connected to both the CPB and the switch. The switch is made by wrapping aluminum foil all around the top part of the case. 2 small aluminum “legs” are sticking out the sides of the case and the jumper wires are connected to them. Anytime the top part makes contact with the 2 connected sides, current goes through the circuit and the LED is powered.

 

 

Unconventional Switch : Deck of Cards

 

Unconventional Switch : Deck of Cards

We decided to do our unconventional switch using a deck of cards. Deck of Cards as a Switch? It’s unusual but it works. What we are using are male-to-female wires and the main object is a deck of cards to enable the switch. The purpose of the switch is that to turn it off you remove the cards from the other cards as shown in the video, and to turn it on, you apply the half you took off back to the other half and the result is that the LED should come back on. Video is down below for a demonstration and so is the schematic of said switch. 

Unconventional Switch <- Video

Unconventional Switch: Electronics Team 9 - William Correa Espitia & Jacqueline Pavlat

Spoon Rest Indicator

Did you remember not to put your spoon in the sink?

    We've all been there: you're cooking and go to put down your spoon, and you put it in a bad spot, or, even worse, you forget you still needed that spoon and put it in the sink. How can we make it clearer whether or not your spoon is in its proper place?

    A standard spoon rest works, but easy to forget about if you struggle with focus retention. Something as simple as a little red light to bring attention to it, however, can make all the difference.

    For Electronics Team 9's Unconventional Switch, we created a switch that lights an LED when the user places a spoon fully onto a spoon rest. 

    Here's a demonstration:

Scaffolding: Unconventional Switch, Team 12: James Davis & Michael Brucato

So, the basics of the switch is that it requires a negative charge to be activated, and once activated, the LED installed into the switch board will light up. The items used, aside from the standard switch board, are a can opener and an aluminum peach can. The Switch board is already positively and negatively charged but lacks a ground for the negative charge to travel. So, in order to fulfill that requirement, the aluminum can acts a ground, while the can opener acts as a conduit for the negative charge to travel. Once connected, the LED is charged and turns on.

The Diagram above shows the exact configuration that accomplishes the function discussed in the previous paragraph and shown below in the video.

Unconventional Switch: Door Switch, Team 15

        The switch that I made uses my bedroom door to turn on the blue LED. I used a 9V battery but I didn't have a battery cap so I used two alligator clips, a red for positive and black for negative. the negative was connected to the bread board directly and the positive was connected to a piece of tinfoil on the door. The second piece of tinfoil is connected to the doorframe and leads to the bread board where electricity flows to a 330 ohm resistor and then the blue LED. when the door is closed the two pieces of tinfoil connect and complete the circuit and the LED lights up.

 

Our unconventional switch is made out of a mechanical keyboard key, a glass cup/coaster, and a green led connected by alligator clips beneath the coaster and glass. The intent of our switch is both aesthetic and practical, with the green light creating a cool effect in the dark and also useful for signaling if you still need a drink and don't have one. By default, the LED is off but when the key is pressed its turned on. We used a mechanical keyboard key because of its portability, allowing the user to have a low-profile switch at their table for their drink light.

Unconventional Switch: Orange

 

In this project we utilized an unconventional conductor in the form of an Orange, and aluminum foil to create a switch that could turn an LED on and off again. This was done by taking one of the pins and sticking it straight into an orange through a piece of aluminum, the other pin was extended using an alligator clip that was then taped onto the orange. By clipping and unclipping that piece of aluminum foil from the alligator clip. We were able to open and close the circuit, thus powering on and off the LED light that was connected.

A possible, if highly improbable, use for a switch like this could be the use of mechanical leaves in the produce growing industry in order to run electricity through them safely and light the facilities at night using low-power lights. This would be particularly helpful on days where there is a lack of sunlight to power what is usually controlled by solar energy.

Unconventional Switch: Note To Self

 While I was sitting in my chair and setting up the switch, I was thinking of ways to help convey the project the best that it could. I was looking through my class notes and saw my notepad and thought this could work. What better way to know what i had done then to use the notes that has helped me. So I made a conductive switch from folding up aluminum foil and taping it to the edges of my notepad. sure enough when you close it the red LED turns on and when you open it it turns off. Giving you a note on what it is doing.

Unconventional Switch: Electronics Group 13 - Scissors

Scissors. 

While the most common way this specific office supply is to cut into paper and/or other things. For this project, we used scissors for our unconventional switch. The primary power supply comes from a USB connected to a computer (shown off screen) and attaching wires in negative and positive rows on the breadboard that lead up to the red and black male alligator clips. Once these clips are connected to the handles of the scissors, after closing, the LED will turn on and, opening them again, the LED turns off once more. 

In the video below, you can see this in action, along with the schematics and example photos of how the switch operates.

Schematic

                                                                        (Switch Off)

                                                                        (Switch On)

                                                                            Video

                                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RZq9jRguWM

Unconventional Switch: Fridge Door Switch--David Trefry and Tyrell Whitby

  Fridge Door Switch

 Hello, our unconventional switch is a Fridge Door Switch. Its purpose is to remind you to close the fridge door after you open it. This switch is part of a breadboard powering a 2-volt red LED. We took two lengthy breadboard wires--which complete its circuit when they touch--affixed aluminum foil to their ends with conductive tape and then taped them to the side of a fridge so that the foil sticks out beyond the fridge door’s lip.

These conductors don’t ordinarily touch as they are taped separately. However, when the fridge door is closed, its stainless-steel exterior touches both pieces of foil, bridging the gap to complete the circuit.

The inspiration for this switch came from personal experience with a father that never remembered to close the fridge door. It would appear shut but still had a small gap in the door. Only when the fridge’s alarm, set off by a high temperature, went off would he notice his error. By this point however, damage had already been done to the fridge’s contents.

This switch is designed so that only when the door is properly closed, the breadboard’s LED turns on to confirm that fact. 

Schematic

  

 

Video Demonstration

Unconventional Switch: Speaker Switch (aka the Bass Meter)

So, we all listen to music. I think. And...

Things get loud sometimes, you know? As such, I wanted to see whether I could visually illustrate how loud an audio source was (such as my speakers) using a basic LED circuit. The power source is five volts from the Circuit Playground; I set up two 100 ohm resistors totaling 200 ohms; and used two more alligator clip wires (green for positive, yellow for negative in this case) to make a very loose connection with the aluminum foil. The default state of the LED is on, and if you were to sever that connection the LED would turn off. However, the fun part is that when I play a very loud, very bassy song on my speakers, the loosely affixed aluminum foil will shake and vibrate along with the speaker, creating visual fluctuations in the brightness of the LED. Should your LED be flickering heavily or flickering consistently, it serves as a visual cue to let you know how audible the audio is, and that should probably turn the source of it down.

Or just turn it up louder I guess. You're a kid in college, what do you care?

 

Photo of the switch.

 

Unconventional Switch: X-ACTO Knife

For our unconventional switch, we have created a circuit that lights a blue LED when an X-ACTO knife has its cap on. When you separate the knife from its cap, the LED turns off. As the cap is made of nonconductive plastic, we had to cover it in aluminum foil. We used a Circuit Playground Bluefruit with a USB as our power supply, making the power source 5V. We originally had a 220Ω resistor, but we had switched to a 100Ω one after finding the desired resistance for our switch circuit. The main idea behind the switch is to have the light shine to show you that the X-ACTO knife is safe and protected.

Unconventional Switch -- E14

Monster Can Switch    

Schematics for Unconventional Switch    

 

The switch that we ended up creating was attaching wires to two cans of energy drink and it will light up our LED when the cans touch each other. The metal surrounding the can is conductive, in fact if something went wrong, we could end up causing a shock but thankfully we were careful. The battery that we use to do make this project was a simple 9v batter that was connected to a power supply module, simple and common to use. We try on a 220hm resistor to see what could have happened with the results and it was a simple one.

 The cans were full when we did the experiment so we don’t know if they were empty the results would be different or the same, because once they touched each other electricity was conducted, and the LED was soon working. It depends on the amount of power that being circulated around the objects and the action that is going to happen to cause it, we did a simple and regular conjunction. The cans touched in a calm manner and not in a drastic manner that would have cause some kind of big effect to happen around the project.

Unconventional switch

 

            So for my Switch I tried my best to find two items that are not conductive and make them conductive. At the moment, there are these tiny plates with gold chocolate candies on them that my mom set up around the house for Chinese new year. I decided to make these the components of my switch. I wrapped the chocolate in aluminum foil and I also wrapped a portion of the plate with foil as well. Then I connected the chocolate to an alligator clip that is then connected to the breadboard. I do the same with the plate. Then when I set the chocolate onto the plate. The LED lights up.

Unconventional Switch - Door

 

    For my unconventional switch, I wanted to solve the problem of not knowing whether or not your door is completely closed.  At my apartment me and my roommate's doors will sometimes not close all the way, so even if the door is locked the door can still be pushed open.  This is where this switch could come into play.  The LED in this circuit will turn on when the bolt of the door is fully seated inside of the faceplate of the doorframe where a magnet connected to a wire will latch onto it finishing the circuit, thus letting you know the door is secure and can not be opened if it is locked.  The circuit uses a 3.3V power supply that powers the 2V red LED, I used a 100 ohm resistor which is slightly higher than the ideal 65 ohms of resistance that this circuit could handle, to make sure that the LED will not break.

Scaffolding: Unconventional Switch - Lock & Key

Our design for the Unconventional Switch assignment is based on a lock and key. The 5-volt PSU sends power through the resistors, then the LED which remains off until the switch is on which allows easy toggling of the LED. The switch is the lock and key. The key is grounded and when it comes into contact with the lock, the circuit is complete which allows the LED to turn on. The LED light turns on if the key comes into contact with the lock but might start flickering because the current isn't strong enough. If you insert the key fully into the lock, the LED will remain lit. The LED is a signifier to tell if the key is fit inside the lock.