SparkFun Forums

[michael.petrie]

Hi there,

I am trying to figure out how to connect and accelerometer to a Shure Lavalier microphone. The use case for this is as follows:

I host events in large halls and have a runners holding microphones for the audience when they need to ask questions to the presenters on stage. If you have a hall with 400 people in passing the microphone can take some time and kills the mood of the show. My idea is to connect an accelerometer to a small lav microphone which will be incased in a protective foam ball/casing which can be thrown across the room from person to person. The idea is that the microphone is thrown, the accelerometer mutes the microphone and when the person catches it and holds it up to their mouth to talk the microphone un-mutes.

This removes the need to have runners holding mic's and improves audience participation in shows.

I am not sure if this is the correct place to find this out so any help/advice would be appreciated.

thanks,

Michael

[Mee_n_Mac]

It's certainly a do-able idea. I don't know if it would be easier to switch the mic's power on/off w/sensed Gs or to disrupt the audio path from the mic to the radio transmitter. I guess that would depend on the mic.

I don't know whether it would be more economical to use an accelerometer w/an interrupt settable to sense "zero" Gs or to use a (HDD) drop sensor as described here ...
http://www.hgst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/te ... _proof.pdf
How it works:
The sensor consists of four piezoresistors that form a full
bridge circuit (see fi gure 1). By monitoring the voltage with
a constant current through these resistors, small variations
in position can be detected. When the sensor is placed
in various orientations, the position can be detected by
the changes in resistance value. When the sensor is in a
free fall situation, the value of all the resistors are equal
since there is no G force in any single direction. This can
be detected by an electronic circuit and hence a Zero G
sensor is created.

I've not shopped for nor priced one of the above.