“Pretty good and cheap; minor improvements I suggest are making the ends of the wires suitable for insertion into breadboard, making the sensors themselves compatible with Lego.”
“Reflective IR sensors can be unreliable and finding a (low cost) break beam IR sensor that works over more than 1 cm is nigh on impossible - enter the IR Break Beam Sensor. The 3mm LED version is much more cost-effective than the 5mm LED - both perform the same in my experience.”
“Responsive sensors that work in most light conditions with good range. Binary output (high or low) makes for easy coding, with lots of examples available on the web. Having Dupont connectors would make prototyping easier.”
“These are inexpensive, easy to use and work very well.
You will find an excellent tutorial on to use them with MicroPython here:
https://gurgleapps.com/learn/projects/how-to-use-a-break-beam-sensor-and-make-your-own-light-gate-on-the-cheap?fbclid=IwAR3JgFVDHw76wwohFI66b10OIPDqTBk2MJPXvM6jhssGJ_Ab5c46Js5K5GU
I followed their instructions and very quickly got everything working. The larger ones, more expensive and with a longer range, also work very well.
Tony Goodhew”
