Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: Vesza on May 07, 2009, 08:02:49 AM

Title: Parallax PING sensor works... sometimes!
Post by: Vesza on May 07, 2009, 08:02:49 AM

Hey guys,
I've been playing around with a parallax PING sensor and all was working good for a few days! Then for some reason today it started working intermittently. If I use it for more than 5mins or so the status light starts getting erractic and feeble then dies. The interesting thing is, if I leave it off for 10-15mins it will start working again! So I figured it was the microcontroller, but I had another PING sensor delivered today and it works fine all the time.
Any suggestions on the cause?

Title: Re: Parallax PING sensor works... sometimes!
Post by: sonictj on May 14, 2009, 02:17:33 PM

I have had issues with them when I have a lot plugged into my micro.  They seem to be the first thing that goes when you start to pull ~ the max of your regulator.  I have a robot based on the atmega644p that had 13 sensors, and 6 actuators all sourcing logic voltage from my on board 7805 originally.  I found that I was nearing the max draw for the regulator when I added my last ping.  When I added another 5+ source for more current my issues went away.  This probably is not your issue, but the symptoms were very similar.

Title: Re: Parallax PING sensor works... sometimes!
Post by: Admin on May 30, 2009, 07:30:03 AM

Try different pins on your mcu. By chance some pins could be malfunctioning. Otherwise you got a malfunctioning sonar . . . also, use a multimeter and check pins all over the sonar both before and after those 10-15 minutes and see what changes.

Title: Re: Parallax PING sensor works... sometimes!
Post by: UCUPZZZ on February 20, 2010, 05:53:18 AM

This problem same with me...

sometimes i can overcame the problem..

increase your source for microcontrol.. (paralel the batteries)..

and the second is decrease the delay( i don`t know why.. by add more delay it can work more good)