Tips and Question

[nachoman]

Question: I have some flashers that screw on bicycle tires. They run on tiny batteries. They only flash when they are jarred, then stay on for 5-8 seconds until they are jarred again. Other than the battery, they are really tiny unit. I wonder, is there some way that the jarring part can be blocked so it would work on a switch? I guess I could just tear into one, but if I screw up the flashing part first, I wouldn't be able to find out what makes the rest tick. Has anyone ever fooled with one of these?

Lynn

I am not exactly sure what you are referring to, but at one time an oil company (I will withhold the name) came to my university and gave us geology students free gifts, one of which was a stress relieving ball. When you threw it against the wall, it would flash red and blue LEDs. Inside was a tiny circuit board with the flashing circuit flush mounted to the board. The circuit board primarily was there for a place to attach the LEDs, a tiny battery holder, and a switch. The switch was a tiny cylinder with a spring inside. One lead was connected to the cylinder, the other to the spring. When the spring touched the cylinder as a result of jarring, the lights would flash for a few seconds. I still have it somewhere. It wouldn't be that hard to modify either the switch or the power supply - just need to unsolder the spring switch and attach two wires.