The realities of wearing a mask when you go out, from forgetting the thing in the car to dealing with fogged up glasses, have certainly taken some getting used to for most of us. But not every issue is immediately obvious. For example, experts say that as a mask gets damp from exhalation or perspiration it becomes less effective. Which is precisely why [Rick Pannen] has designed the Mask Moisture Meter.
As deep as we are into the Microcontroller Era, we really appreciate the simplicity of this design. It’s just a 555 timer, a buzzer, some LEDs, and a handful of passive components to get them all talking to each other. There’s no firmware or programming required; just put a fresh battery in the holder and away you go. The traces of the PCB serve as a moisture detector, so when the board is pushed against something wet enough, the red LED and buzzer will go off to warn the user.
Now admittedly, there’s a point where you certainly won’t need an electronic gizmo to tell you a mask is wet. But as [Rick] demonstrates in the video after the break, the circuit is sensitive enough to indicate when there’s moisture in the material that might not be immediately obvious to the eye.
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