Mailbox Light...

[tjm73]

Ok electronics people.... need a little help with a switch. I have a mailbox that is about 500 feet from any appreciable kind of light and from about this time of year till spring it's hard to see inside the mailbox when you open it in the dark. This has bugged me for about 4 years now. I have a solution but I need help with the on/off switch. I know what I want it to do but I don't know the lingo to find it.

Below is a crude drawing of my simple circuit. For the switch, I want it to allow the light to turn on when the door opens, but turn the light off when the door is closed. The two 9V batteries are wired in series to deliver 18VDC to the 12-24VDC LED license plate light.

What switch will make this work?

 

[oldVOR]

I'd use a magnetic reed trigger switch. Mount the switch on the inside of the box with 3M DS tape and the magnet on the door with 3M DS tape. When closed, the magnet on the door will flip the contacts on the switch. The magnet and switch need to be roughly an 1/8" from each other when the door is in the closed position.

 

[skwerl]

Why not just use the same switch used in car doors for the last 50 years to turn on the overhead light? A simple pressure switch available for free out of any junk car in the country. Or is that not fancy enough?

 

[tjm73]

Well shit. That never occurred to me.

 

[Totheboards]

Hows abouts one of them there solar powered, motion activated, LED walkway lights? In the past, they really sucked, but the light output now is actually useful. Or just one of those little pancake motion activated lights...

https://www.amazon.com/AMIR-Cordles...pID=41zhpfU1HuL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[tjm73]

That is a lot simpler. Didn't know such lights existed. Thanks.

 

[Gabe]

I just use my phone's flashlight app to see in there.

 

[tjm73]

I just want to open the door after sundown and see whats in the mailbox. I don't want to hold a flashlight to do it.

 

[Gabe]

Lol. I just never thought of putting a light in there.
My mailbox is just a regular size piece, sometimes the mail takes up most of the room in there.

 

[bujeezus]

What about one of those push-to-turn on led lights 3m'ed to the inside of the door.

 

[tjm73]

Our mailbox is oversized and has an inner door.

 

[Macman45]

Why not just use the same switch used in car doors for the last 50 years to turn on the overhead light? A simple pressure switch available for free out of any junk car in the country. Or is that not fancy enough?

Pressure switch is fine, but would most likely require screwing into both the box and the door so there's no movement. 3M tape won't be enough, the force required to activated the plunger over time will tweak it's mount I'd imagine and cause it to slip off and stay activated all the time.

I like the magnetic reed switch for the simple fact that it doesn't even require physical contact. Like said above, 1/8". Line em up close and golden

 

[LikeabossTM]

As an aside, I just stick my hand in and feel around after dark.

But I love surprises.