Close Menu
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
  • News
  • Phones
  • Laptops
  • Gadgets
  • Gaming
  • AI
  • Tips
  • More
    • Web Stories
    • Global
    • Press Release

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

What's On

Amazon Great Freedom Festival 2025: Best Deals on Realme Phones Revealed Ahead of Sale

31 July 2025

Trump Ends Tariff Exemption for Small Packages

31 July 2025

Amazon Great Freedom Festival 2025: Best Deals on iQOO Phones Revealed Ahead of Sale

31 July 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Just In
  • Amazon Great Freedom Festival 2025: Best Deals on Realme Phones Revealed Ahead of Sale
  • Trump Ends Tariff Exemption for Small Packages
  • Amazon Great Freedom Festival 2025: Best Deals on iQOO Phones Revealed Ahead of Sale
  • Mark Zuckerberg Details Meta’s Plan for Self-Improving, Superintelligent AI
  • One UI 8 Beta 4 for Galaxy S25 Series Rolling Out in Germany With Bug Fixes, July 2025 Security Patch: Report
  • What JD Vance, Pam Bondi, and Sam Altman Can’t Stop Listening to, According to the ‘Panama Playlists’
  • Lava Shark 2 4G Spotted on Geekbench; May Launch in India Soon
  • US Senator Urges DHS to Probe Whether Agents Were Moved From Criminal Cases to Deportations
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest Vimeo
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
  • News
  • Phones
  • Laptops
  • Gadgets
  • Gaming
  • AI
  • Tips
  • More
    • Web Stories
    • Global
    • Press Release
Subscribe
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
Home » What Are Hall Effect Sensors and How Do They Work?
News

What Are Hall Effect Sensors and How Do They Work?

News RoomBy News Room4 November 20243 Mins Read
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit Telegram Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Hall effect sensors are everywhere right now. Keyboards, game controllers, and DIY kits use them for more precise inputs. But with any newly popular device, it can be easy to immediately jump onto the hype and assume that a new technology is better without knowing the advantages.

As a mechanical keyboard hobbyist who has also reviewed peripherals employing Hall effect sensors, I’m excited by the technology. I’m here to help you answer all your questions, whether you’re deciding to upgrade or just want to know what Hall effect means.

What Is the Hall Effect?

The Hall effect is a principle of magnetic fields discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879. He found that placing a magnet next to an electrical current flowing through a conductor would cause the electrons to move with the magnet’s position. This affects the current’s voltage as the electrons are pushed to either side of the conductor. The resulting changes in the voltage can be measured to determine the distance of the magnet from the conductor.

Put more simply, moving a magnet closer to an electrified piece of metal will cause the electric current to react, and this reaction can be measured. A Hall effect (HE) sensor measures this change in voltage and returns a value to the computer.

This principle is utilized in countless technologies today across multiple fields. One of the most common uses is in a car’s wheel speed sensor. These sensors utilize the Hall effect to measure the rate at which a wheel is rotating, which is then reported back to the car to control things like cruise control, ABS, and speedometer.

Hall effect sensors have been used for decades in computer technologies too. Honeywell produced the first Hall effect keyboards in the 1970s and ’80s, but the technology eventually fell out of favor as more cost-effective keyboards became widespread. It only began resurfacing in the 2010s with manufacturers like XMIT producing small batches of modern HE keyboards.

Hall Effect Advantages in Peripherals

The largest improvement Hall effect sensors offer is response time. Because an HE switch relies on magnets instead of physical contact to register an input, it can theoretically register information far faster than a keyboard’s traditional mechanical switch. This is one of the main reasons HE switches are popular in esports and competitive gaming, where milliseconds matter.

For the average keyboard enthusiast, an HE switch’s most impressive feature is how the sensor registers user input. A traditional mechanical switch will only return two binary values of “on” and “off” at static positions. It will tell your computer when a switch is being pressed past a certain point but doesn’t provide any other information. A Hall effect switch, on the other hand, can return a multitude of numbers that correlate with the switch’s position. These values range from near the top of the switch, through the middle of the keypress, all the way to fully compressing the switch. As a result, the computer will know exactly how far the key is being pressed down and can provide variable inputs based on this information.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleRealme GT 7 Pro With Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC to Launch in India on November 26: Expected Specifications
Next Article Ryzen AI nearly hits 60 fps in Black Myth: Wukong, but it’s not that simple

Related Articles

News

Trump Ends Tariff Exemption for Small Packages

31 July 2025
News

Mark Zuckerberg Details Meta’s Plan for Self-Improving, Superintelligent AI

31 July 2025
News

What JD Vance, Pam Bondi, and Sam Altman Can’t Stop Listening to, According to the ‘Panama Playlists’

31 July 2025
News

US Senator Urges DHS to Probe Whether Agents Were Moved From Criminal Cases to Deportations

31 July 2025
News

Scientists Say New Government Climate Report Twists Their Work

30 July 2025
News

Gamers Are Furious About the Censorship of NSFW Games—and They’re Fighting Back

30 July 2025
Demo
Top Articles

ChatGPT o1 vs. o1-mini vs. 4o: Which should you use?

15 December 2024103 Views

Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

28 October 202495 Views

Oppo Reno 14, Reno 14 Pro India Launch Timeline and Colourways Leaked

27 May 202582 Views

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

Latest News
News

What JD Vance, Pam Bondi, and Sam Altman Can’t Stop Listening to, According to the ‘Panama Playlists’

News Room31 July 2025
Phones

Lava Shark 2 4G Spotted on Geekbench; May Launch in India Soon

News Room31 July 2025
News

US Senator Urges DHS to Probe Whether Agents Were Moved From Criminal Cases to Deportations

News Room31 July 2025
Most Popular

The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman

13 January 2025125 Views

ChatGPT o1 vs. o1-mini vs. 4o: Which should you use?

15 December 2024103 Views

Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

28 October 202495 Views
Our Picks

Mark Zuckerberg Details Meta’s Plan for Self-Improving, Superintelligent AI

31 July 2025

One UI 8 Beta 4 for Galaxy S25 Series Rolling Out in Germany With Bug Fixes, July 2025 Security Patch: Report

31 July 2025

What JD Vance, Pam Bondi, and Sam Altman Can’t Stop Listening to, According to the ‘Panama Playlists’

31 July 2025

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
© 2025 Best in Technology. All Rights Reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.