Gikfun Metal Ball Tilt Switch Sensor for Arduino (Pack of 10pcs) EK1044

I bought this along with the larger black tilt sensors from the same vendor. This one is far more precise and reliable. First: many reviews say the direction is unmarked. Not true. One lead is silver colored, the other is more gold in color. Yes, the marking is subtle, but it is there, and accurate. When the silver side is up, the switch will be closed. If the silver/gold is too subtle to see, you can also peek under the green wrapping. The gold lead emanates out of a black surface, while the silver lead protrudes out of a shiny metallic surface. Again, the markings don't scream out at you, but they are there. Second: compared to the black tilt sensors, these have been far more reliable. So far, no outright dead ones, and the device exhibits much less hysteresis than the other, i.e. as you tilt it up versus down, the "onset" and "offset" angles are nearly the same, which is a good thing for any project that requires even modest precision. In contrast, the other device switched "off" at a noticeably shallower angle than it switches "on", probably due to friction of the internal ball bearing.

Great value, but needs to be understood before physically incorporated into design. ChatGPT was able to provide very detailed application notes including comments about internal structure. At this design point it is easy to employ redundancy.

Works ok, but sure miss the old mercury switches. Not as reliable as liquid mercury. Slower reaction and can bounce, so you do have to compensate for this in your design or code.

use to make tilt sensor works great !

Used for a project to sense when arm tilt was achieved.

I tested 4 of these; none worked as expected. Switch is supposed to be accurate within 10 degrees; none of those tested worked as expected - some even at a 90 degree tilt. Bought ten from Adafruit which worked correct every time.

this package has a very high consistency of turn on at a given angle , compared to other ball switches i have tried. Very impressive

I needed a switch for a battery-powered ESP8266 project, where when the device is turned upside down, it would turn off. I wired the tilt switch to the positive side of the ESP, and it does indeed cut power to it when I turn it upside down, but right side up, there's too much jitter, and it just constantly 'resets' the microcontroller on any vibration. Looking for something else now.