Protecting the APDS 9960

Community Projects
1

Great product. I made an nice project with it. But my project is for outside use and I need to protect it. I read the datasheet for the APDS 9660 (page 18) and they suggest to cover it with a rubber with 2 holes. I must say that it really improve the detection of the gestures especially the NEAR and the FAR. They also suggest to cover it with a 1mm with a specific Makrolon or Lexan window. I cannot find any of these products on Internet. Anybody has any suggestion? Sparkfun rocks

2

You certainly didn’t look very hard.

Makrolon or Lexan are polycarbonate - tons of other brand names are also.

any plastic supplier will carry at least one polycarbonate brand. call them and see if they have any offcuts you can get for cheap.

Lowes (for example) has 28" x 30" x 0.093 (2mm) :

https://www.lowes.com/pd/LEXAN-2-3333-f … et/3143411

3

Thanks,

Yes, I can find Makrolon and Lexan but it seems that Visible light transmission and Refractive index are important.

Makrolon LQ2647 87% 1.587

Makrolon LQ3147 87% 1.587

Makrolon LQ3187 85% 1.587

Lexan OQ92S 88 - 90% -

Lexan OQ4120R 88 - 90% 1.586

Lexan OQ4320R 88 - 90% 1.586

I tried some other basic polycarbonate sheets without success at all. So I thought that I needed to find the right one as specify above. which I can’t find.

I will order the sheet at Lowes and try again.

4

Try the extracted center segment of a 2 litre soda bottle. The tall straight clear bottles represents a cylinder which can be cut and flattened into a nice sheet. Surprisingly resistant to weathering. When gently heated, such as with an electric heat gun, the plastic will shrink fit to an extent. The lens from a flashlight with the bulb/led removed? A small glass jar?

RS

5

Thanks.

I will try the suggestions.

6

I tried all type of Lexan and Makrolon (standard sheet for Lowes and Amazon). Also tired different plastic around the house (cd plastic cover… etc) without any successes. Also tried different thickness.

I guess that Visible light transmission and Refractive index are important, but no vendors specify them.

Too bad I cannot find the right ones.

I’m still open to suggestions.

Thanks