Wanted: 12/24 VDC Vibration Sensor to Trigger Relay

How does the 'nudge' function in an electrical/electronic pinball machine work?

Tilt sensors in old style pin ball machines, I have a Bally machine from the early 60s, work by way of a rod hanging down through a washer. At the bottom of the washer is a weight that can be set higher or lower on the rod. The weight is shaped like a cone. The higher up the rod the cone/weight is set, the smaller the amount of motion is required to have it swing so that the rod touches the side of the washer. When the rod touches the washer, a circuit is completed and the machine "tilts". Newer machines have motion sensors and weighted reed switches.

Some of the hardware in the old style machines is quiet ingenious.

Maybe one of those horrid cheap car theft alarms that go off in the middle of the night ?
Or make one with a strip of brass with a weight on the end and a contact, youll need a bit of circuitry to smooth and latch the output.... adjust the mass and length to tune it to your requirement...or a pendulum based one.

Del

Some vibration sensors here:

http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/results.jsp?N=0&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=vibration+sensor&Ntx=&isGoback=false

Here are some you may want to look at. And this article provides a selection guide.

I think you may be able to get the sensor and solenoid from a boneyard by using an anti-knock circuit off the engine. You may have to experiment with a potentionometer in the signal line. Good luck.

I agree with all of the above, a Mercury tilt switch with a sensitivity adjuster may work also. You will need to "latch" the relay by maintaining the power to the coil through the contacts once they close.

Any accelerometer is a vibration sensor. If you couple with a threshold detector you have what you want.