Re: sensor choice for "gong detect"? & invisible light switches

["Frank Olson" <feolson@xxxxxxxxxx>]

"Tracker" <trackgoogle@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1120071862.118462.254210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hello, all.  Long time no read etc.
>
> Anybody ever *actually done* a sensor on a heavy bell?  (It's a
> large-size "Mission Bell" by Tom Torrens, if you care...  To be used as
> a doorbell, well, actually as a button replacement for a DSC door box.)
> Specifically triggered by the resonating from the gong itself, no
> stuff like mallet switchhooks or motion sensor on the swinging mount...
> I thought about an old-style glass break, but getting the frequency
> right would be a trick.

Take a couple of pictures of the bell itself and post it to a web page we
can all reference.  It would be far easier to suggest a solution if we could
have a look at what you are dealing with here.


>
> Also does anybody know if commercially cheap density sensors can be
> used to determine if a finger is placed on the other side of sheetrock?
> I'm gonna go do some experiments, so don't shoot me for asking first.
> But if someone has *already* done it, please let me know.  Why did this
> come up?  Well, I was looking at a Leviton "Acenti" ad the other day,
> and thought, "Why on earth does anybody want a larger, more prominent
> light switch?!"  Remember the Pass&Seymour/Legrand ones?  Ugly. as.
> sin.  Anyway, shouting "lights" at some comput er is silly, and motion
> sensors don't have the positive control (or on-location dimming)
> needed.  Again, don't flame me about greasy spots on the wall, or
> repairability of buried switches -- just, *if* you've done it, pretty
> please tell me what you learned.
>
> Thanks in advance!


I've seen some pretty sophisticated looking touch control dimmer switches at
Home Depot the other day.  I'd stick with a solution that wouldn't involve
anything to "esoteric" if I were you (both from service and "end-user"
standpoints)