Gadget freaks, model railroaders, roboticists or cat-hosts will love the versatility of the Sharp IS471 infrared proximity detector. It is the size of a transistor, operates over the 4-16 volt range, and can detect objects about 4-9 inches away by reflected IR pulses.
The basic implementation requires only the IS471, an IR LED and a 9 volt battery and can be built by most any tinkerer in less than 10 minutes.

Step 1: Gather the parts

The parts you'll need are:
1) the Sharp IS471 (available for $2 at: http://www.junun.org/MarkIII/Info.jsp?item=46 or $3 from www.digikey.com, and others)
2) a 940nm IR emitter (such as the Fairchild QED-234, available from www.mouser.com for about 50 cents, and other sources)
3) Something to mount the above two items on. You've got a lot of options here. There are several excellent Instructables on making your own PCBs. If you want to try it out before doing the etching thing you can use a pluggable breadboard (not shown) or go with a small piece of perf-board (pads on .100" centers, shown at bottom left).
4) 9 volt batter and battery clip
5) Soldering iron & solder, diagonal cutters (if not going the breadboard route).

If you'd rather not etch, but still want something snazzy you might drop me a line about the very small custom perf-boards I had made at www.pad2pad.com (shown at bottom right), priced at $2 each for the bare boards, postage included).
<p>Can I not connect the IR led to the GLout (pin 4)? My understanding of the datasheet is that the sensor only responds to a specific frequency, so the IR led really must be connected to it. I wanted to include an transistor-based amplifier to the IR led so that I can control the range easily by adjusting the gain/current through the IR led.</p><p>Are there other ways to improve the range? What I really want is a proximity detector whose range is easily adjustable (e.g., by use of trimmer resistor).</p>
<p>I found IS485/486 to be more appropriate (theoretically) for what I want. Cheaper too.</p>
<p>Adding a small piece of shrink tubing to the LED will keep a side view from triggering the sensor.. . . Can be used for directional sensing. . . . I have used this method since I found out that transistors make good light sensors, about 1955. . . Have fun. . . </p>
<p>is the trip-distance adjustable on this project? thx!</p>
Does anyone have a recommendation for a proximity sensor that can detect 1' - 25'? Basically I'd like to make a set of bat-ears for my completely blind grandmother. I'm thinking something that steadily puts out a tone over a 1-ear headphone. Closer things get higher tones, more distant things get lower tones..etc. Any suggestions? I'm a complete noob at this, but I'm smart & learn quickly.
I might recommend looking at some of the ultrasonic modules available at www.sparkfun.com or a something IR based on the Vishay TSOP series. Send me an email and we can talk.
<p>Any solution found for this one? thx</p>
<p>Anyone interested in an Instructable on a programmable PIC based prox detector good for several feet?</p>
<p>Yes Please, I need my sensor to work for at least 2-3 feet.</p>
Lemme dig up my notes and codes and schematics for the PIC-based project. It was good to 4 feet or so, I generally was quoting 'one meter' using high output IR-LEDs. <br>It was a pretty easy intro to making SMD PCBs then assembling the same the easy way. &quot;I know stuff&quot;, as the saying goes.<br>Let me get to work on the quick+cheap PIC-based dingus I cooked up using an agile PWM LIDAR (for individuation of competing units)
<p>Just brouse the Sharp opto-electronics lines on mouser.com or digikey.com you'd be amazed at the sensors out there.</p>
<p>Laz, nah, it's only rated at 50ma max. Drive a transistor or gang a bunch of 40106 or 4016 to give it a kick easily. Go browse Mouser for driver ICs.</p>
I'm unable to find IS471F can you tell me alternative of it..,,,n please reply as much as possible....it's urgent
I'm not aware of any alternate parts off the top of my head. <br>I know they have them in stock here: http://www.junun.org/MarkIII/Info.jsp?item=46. <br>You might be able to put something together with a tone-decoder (LM567), led and a phototransistor or something.
<p>I was able to make a pretty nifty prox detector that worked at 3-4 feet using a low pin count PIC, IR LED and IR detector. might look at that?</p>
<p>Does the final product have a power out for when the sensor senses whatever is in range? I plan to add a piezo buzzer.</p>
Brilliant!!! This is just one half of a circuit i am trying to build. <br> <br>I am trying to activate upto 12 LEDS consecutively with each detection from the proximity sensor. <br> <br>To make the circuit more bespoke i would ideally like to have the 12 LEDs in 4 banks containing 3 LEDs each. From a four-position selector switch I would like to choose whether the LEDs 1 - 3 light, 1 - 6 light, 1 - 9 light or 1 - 12 light. <br> <br>Any help greatly appreciated.
Sounds like you've got it pretty well figured out.
Which program do you use to draw your circuits schematics?
I'd like a LED to light up when the detector detects something, is there a simple way to do that? <br> <br>Thanks for the help.
Great thank you for the quick reply, just ordered the dectors.
Nice circuit. Two questions... how long did it takefor the company to make the custom perf boards and do you know if these components are available at Radio Shack? Thanks!
I used Pad2Pad to handle the fab, and pushed it out to 3 week turn to keep it super cheap (under 20 cents per board). And, no, gotta order the detectors from the Internets.
Im making an array of LEDs , i want them to turn on and off with something like this, would it be possible??
The datasheet is at http://www.junun.org/MarkIII/datasheets/IS471F.pdf <br>Raw output is good for sinking 50mA.
Subject to the raw current output of the IS471, yes. <br>Otherwise add a transistor buffer or a driver chip to up the current capacity.
<a href="http://sharp-world.com/products/device/lineup/data/pdf/datasheet/gp2y0a21yk_e.pdf" rel="nofollow">ir-detector </a>for about 10$ you suppply 5 V you get an analog output .5 to 4 volt. No hassle garantee!
Yeah, that's a great device if you need proportional analog output.<br>It's expensive, but great if you don't just want a simple OC output!
Radio shack has changed this chip (276-1323) recently (somewhere around January 2008). If you get it from radio shack make sure it's the one you want!
thank u
does it give analog output???<br>coz it's not clear from the instructions that i does...<br>and also is IS741 available in india???
Nope, it's a discrete logic level, 1 or 0.<br>Not sure about availability in India, check local Sharp distributors or order via Junon over the interwebs.
Is the Vcc using 9v? because base on the datasheet of the QED234 Fairchild, it says tht the forward voltage is only 1.6 volt and a forward current of 100mA. Wouldnt it spoil the IR LED at tht voltage? Please educate me as i'm just a newbie in this sort of things
If you hooked up an LED straight to the 9V batt it wouldn't work for long! :)<br>The Sharp part is made to handle this matter. It works just fine, trust me (as Bernie Madoff used to say).
Also if i run the 5V my PIC works on? Nice sensor by the way
Yep, seems to work fine from 5VDC.<br>I think 4.5VDC will be at the lower limit, though, so no 3.3VDC.
Stumbled onto all this info. Really exciting even for an ol' guy like me. <br>Far too many years from making PCBs and little widget circuitry. <br>At 80 yrs. old, am again starting a new company and the IR LED and Sharp IS471 may solve a problem--- better, create an opportunity. <br>I'm in Folsom, CA Home 916 989-3005 <br>Office in Fair Oaks, CA <br>Would like to find some people who are into making PCBs and Proximity sensors. I need some help because my electronic savvy is too far lost in deep core. <br>And, possible opportunity for anyone looking to join an emerging company. <br> <br>Carl Rea Jordan reajrdn@yahoo.com www.optx-ltd.com (emerging) <br>I have several other start-up and need some entrepreneur-type minds.
I'm sending you an email, Carl. Curiosity and all. :)
Not sure how hard it would be, but could you setup the &quot;Alert&quot; to go off when the IR Detector sees the IR light? So reverse basically? would it be a NOT chip or is there an easier way?<br><br>I want to setup an IR LED on one side of the cat food container and the detector on the other side, and have it light up a separate light when the food is low enough for the IR LED's path to not be blocked by cat food... so the path would be normally blocked...<br><br>Thanks!
It's doable. The detector output is good to 50mA at up to 16V.<br>Just reverse the logic, so that your device operates on a logical 1 instead of a 0. For the step 8 example, you'd use an NPN transistor instead of the PNP shown.<br>Or an inverter chip, if you like.
Nice instructable. For the lazy amongst us, check out optoswitches such as the &quot;Photo Reflective Sensor (SEN130A3B)&quot; from Seeedstudio. Disclaimer: I'm not related to Seeedstudio in any way, it just happens that I ordered a couple of them the other day and had the part number available.
Hi there author, i would like a LED get triggered when i move my hand in front of the detector. How do i make it happen, should i connect the positive side of the LED to the V-out pin and the negetive pin of the LED to the negetive side of the power source.
Yeah, what steveastrouk said!<br>Sorry, I've been off for a while.
Nice little project BTW.
No, connect the LED anode to the V+ pin, connect the LED cathode (via a resistor) to the Vo pin.
Instruction #2 above indicates to connect the negative leg of the infrared LED to IS471F pin 4. Sharp IS471F data sheet indicates this pin 4 (GL) is an output voltage rating of 16. If the data sheet is correct and one connects as indicated above, will the proximity sensor still function properly?
That's the max rating of the driver.<br>It drives the IRLED just fine, really!
Hello, I am an industrial design student and have been tasked with creating a Point of purchase display that makes use of light. I wanted to create a circuit that when an individual walks by the display would light up. Basically what I would like to know is there a way to increase the range of the detector to 3 or 4 feet? I would like to use a circuit similar to this one in conjunction with a relay circuit to activate a flashing led circuit that I found here:<br/><br/><a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fast-blinking-LED-bike-light/">http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fast-blinking-LED-bike-light/</a><br/><br/>My electronics skills are rusty at best, I'm willing to get my hands dirty (with soldering flux I guess) but do you think this may be to complicated for a novice? <br/>

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