Using a Reed Switch (ILS) with Arduino

A reed switch or ILS is a magnetic sensor that detects the presence of a magnetic field. This switch will be activated by approaching a magnet. It can be used to know if a door is closed or open or to detect the presence of an object.

Material

• Computer
• Arduino UNO
• USB A Male Cable
• Reed Switch (ILS)

Principle of operation

The reed switch (or ILS sensor) consists of two tabs made of a ferromagnetic material in a glass capsule. In the presence of a magnetic field, the two tabs magnetize and move closer together until they make contact.

N.B.: The sensor detects a magnetic field from further away if it is parallel to the North axis

Scheme

The reed switch is best connected to a digital pin of the microcontroller because it returns, like a push button, a high or low, closed or open state. There are several possible assemblies:

• By connecting the ground and a digital pin (here pin 2)

• By using an external pullup resistor (if the microcontroller or the pin used does not have an internal pullup)

Code

As we said, the Reed switch works like a magnetic switch. As a result, the sensor management code will strongly resemble that of a push button. To read the state of the sensor, we use the digitalRead() function.

//Parameters
const int ilsPin = 2;

//Variables
bool ilsStatus = false;

void setup() {
  //Init Serial USB
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println(F("Initialize System"));
  //Init digital input
  pinMode(ilsPin, INPUT);
}

void loop() {
  readReedSwitch();
}

void readReedSwitch( ) { /* function readReedSwitch */
  ////Test routine for ReedSwitch
  ilsStatus = digitalRead(ilsPin);
  Serial.println(ilsStatus);
  delay(100);
}

You can find different codes to manage a switch in this tutorial.

Results

If you move a magnet toward and away from the ILS sensor, you should see the status change on the serial monitor.

Applications

• Detection of the presence of a magnetic field
• Detect the opening or closing of a door equipped with a magnet

Sources

• Arduino reference on digitalWrite
• Management of a push button with Arduino