Hi all,
I bought the adafruit log light sensor ( http://www.adafruit.com/products/1384 ) and it worked really well off a 9 volt battery with a voltage divider to 4.5v. I could measure low light in dark rooms and then walk out in to the sunlight and the sensor would perform perfectly.
So I thought it'd be even better to hook it up to a universal power supply like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Tronix-ACA1-Unive ... wer+supply
I set it to three volts and shined a cheapo laser pointer on it....it worked for a bit, but then it stopped working altogether.
I'm not sure if:
1) the laser light overwhelmed it.
2) the universal charger burned it out.
I think the universal charger burned it out because when I touched the chip, it was really warm.
Anyone know if the sensor can handle laser light?
Or is more likely that I suck at electronics and should have put a resistor in with the universal charger...
Any help would be really appreciated.
Log light sensor burnout
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Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
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- Posts: 306
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Re: Log light sensor burnout
Is the polarity switch on the power adapter set correctly?
Did you check the Voltage output with your Voltmeter (DVM)?
Did you check the Voltage output with your Voltmeter (DVM)?
- adafruit_support_mike
- Posts: 67446
- Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:51 pm
Re: Log light sensor burnout
At a guess, I'd say the laser damaged the sensor, producing a short circuit. The short led to the sensor pulling much more current than it should, making it hot.
Laser light is far more concentrated than regular light, so it takes a lot less overall power to do damage.
Laser light is far more concentrated than regular light, so it takes a lot less overall power to do damage.
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.