Ok, here’s a good one. I need some type of tactile alert in a small pcb design. A vibrating motor would work, but I need low power and hopefully even smaller. It must be silent, and it can’t be mistaken for something else. Is there a piezo version out there that is much more efficient?
Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Ron
there are some really small motors that do this. iirc, they have pretty small current draw - they are used in cell phones. I see them all the time on the surplus sites.
How low is “low power”?
Sorry about the delay. The maximum drain should be no more than 20mA average.
Would something like the SparkFun [Vibration motor be too large? The average current for the motor is 80ma @ 3v (more than your target), but that is in line with other vibration motors that I’ve run across. I would imagine that you could use PWM to reduce the average current drain. Intermittently pulsing the motor in a distinctive pattern and using PWM might get you where you want to go.](Vibration Motor - ROB-08449 - SparkFun Electronics)
to make a tactile alert, you’re going to have to move some mass. That doesn’t come cheap. If it were my project, I’d do what Ralph suggested and look at duty cycle. My goal would be to reduce total power consumption and worry less about current. If you pulsed an 80 mA vibrator with a 25% duty cycle, you would achieve you “20mA” goal when duty cycle is factored in.