APDS-9960 behind acrylic

Sensors Distance
1

Hi there

I’m using an APDS-9960 to read gestures for controlling a media player showing some videos off on a screen, and I want to find a way to mount the sensor behind darkened glass so it is hidden.

So far I have tried mounting it behind translucent white acrylic, as well as transparent (but tinted) perspex. No joy as of yet, however all these samples have been roughly 3mm thick, which may be the issue.

I am struggling to work out what I could change in the calibration to increase the sensitivity to try and get the IR to go through. I have increased the LED_Boost to 300, which is the max, but it isn’t doing the trick.

Am I barking up the wrong tree and the acrylic is too thick, or has anyone had success with this behind darkened glass? The data sheet says it is ideally suited for it, but doesn’t explain how I can calibrate it to work well (or at least not in a way I can fathom).

Many thanks for any advice in advance.

2

You’re probably going to need something extremely thin and transparent to IR for this to work.

Sensors like these are commonly used in cell phones where the outer glass is less then 1mm thick so something close to that thickness is likely going to be needed. Dark red or purple glass might work, but double check that it’s IR transparent.

3

It looks like this is more commonly called [‘IR transmitting sheet’ acrylic.

I wonder if you might get better results if you add supplemental IR LEDs, ideally not behind the acrylic.](Infrared Transmitting Plexiglass Sheets In Stock)