Accelerometer Help

radray

Hello Fellow BS2 users, anyone know anything about Accelerometers? I need some help on a project I am working on. I only have one and I dont want to burn it up during testing process.

dandreae

Hello,

If you have purchased the accelerometer from Parallax, it is a very simple process and you should have no problem following the directions.· There are only 4 to 5 wires to connect depending on your application.· Here is a link with more information regarding the accelerometer that Parallax carries:

http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=28017

Dave


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Dave Andreae

Tech Support
dandreae@parallax.com
www.parallax.com



Post Edited (Dave Andreae (Parallax)) : 12/5/2004 3:49:51 PM GMT

lunarknight

http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=6&m=55816

achilles03

What's the accel PN?· I use a ADXL150 for my rocket stuff, and it's really easy to integrate with a BS2.· It's basically got 3 wires (ground, 5VDC, and Vout) which you can pipe directly into the ADC of your choice, depending on how accurate you want to get.· It also depends on if you're doing static· acceleration (which is a bit of a misnomer) or dynamic acceleration (like vibration, which requires faster sampling).

Dave

terrymr

The ADXL150 is a surface mount part, right ? That kind of makes prototyping a pain and any of the already mounted accelerometers I've found don't have a big enough G range to be useful with rockets.

Paul Baker

Yes its a 14 lead Cerpak (QC-14), Im not familiar with the package variety, but it may be AD's name for a standard package. You may be able to find a company which offers a breakout board for the part. If not I could whip out some Gerber Files for a breakout board in an hour or two for you (I have an efficient method to laying out any surface mount DIL (in a couple minutes)), and I can point you to a company who would make the board for $5 (turn around time 4-5 weeks). Let me know if your interested, no charge (we can talk if you want the part assembled and mounted for you). Also the part only has +/- 5 g range, is this large enough for your needs?

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terrymr

Actually I must have been looking at a different part ... I was thinking something that could measure +/- 50g would be great, +/- 20g would probably be enough for most applications. I only need to measure a single axis.

Paul Baker

If your looking for an AD part, you probably want the ADXL78, it is in a 8-LCC package, that would take slightly longer since I think the package has an alignment post (which fits into a hole in the PCB), but Ill still do it if you are interested.

terrymr

The memsic accelerometers look interesting, as for higher g ranges their website has the rather vague notation "AL series factory programmable up to 100 g.". However I'm not sure where I'd find one at retail that was configured for that range. PWM outputs look like they'd be less work, in that no separate A/D conversion is needed.

Paul Baker

Your assements are correct, let me know if you end up needing a BO board.

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terrymr

OK - thanks for the offer of help. I'll let you know when / if I decide on which part to use

steve_b

I picked up an ADXL210 with teh eval board which took care of the 'surface mount' issue.
Digikey sells them

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·

Steve
http://ca.geocities.com/steve.brady@rogers.com/index.html
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."