Im very new to leds but i wanted to try a project for a friend who wants an led beer pong table …
i saw one online where the guy used TCRT5000 IR Sensors to change colors or turn on and off the led rings for the cups when a cup was placed or removed … but i honestly have no idea how these sensors work any help would be appreciated
i tried searching online but don’t really understand most of what I’ve seen
Judging by this datasheet
www.vishay.com/docs/83760/tcrt5000.pdf
it seems to be a IR emiting diode and IR sensitive phototransistor pair (independently connected). So every time IR light falls on the phototransistor it should start to conduct (current). This may also happen if external IR light (of the right wavelength and intensity) falls on it. Connecting the phototransistor emitter to ground, and pulling the collector up to supply voltage with a resistor (a few kohm should work) makes an easy to detect signal for a microcontroller input. But you haven’t said what you want to use it with. Anyway, it’s probably better to pulse the led, and detect in-sync changes on the phototransistor. To be able to filter out ambient IR lighting changes.