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Interfacing Mercury Tilt Switch with Arduino Uno

In this tutorial we will learn how to interface Tilt Sensor with Arduino Uno. As the name suggests, it is an electronic device used to detect the orientation or tilting of an object and provides digital output based on the orientation. It behaves like a normal ON – OFF switch that is controlled by tilting. Tilt sensor consists of a mercury ball and two contacts in a sealed enclosure, in which the mercury ball will short the leads based on the orientation.

Components Required

Mercury Tilt Sensor

Tilt Sensor

Specifications

Working

Not Tilted

When the sensor is in “Not Tilted” position, the mercury ball will be at the bottom and shorting the contacts as shown in the image below. This will turn ON the LED and the output will be LOW.

Tilted

When the sensor is in “Tilted” position, the mercury ball will move away from the contacts as shown in the image below. This will turn OFF the LED and the output will be HIGH.

Circuit Diagram

Description

Program

void setup() {
    pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(2, INPUT);
}
void loop() {
    if (digitalRead(2) == 1)
    {
        digitalWrite(13, HIGH);   
        digitalWrite(3, HIGH);
        delay(300);                       
        digitalWrite(13, LOW);    
        digitalWrite(3, LOW); 
        delay(300);  
    }
}

Code Explanation

Output

Conclusion

I hope that you understood about the tilt switch and how to interface it with Arduino Uno. Please feel free to modify the circuit or code as per you needs. For any doubts, comment box is always open below.