Need a sensor suggestion

Ana

HI,

First I would like to thank for the help with the transistors. I was think about adding some kind of sensor in the front bumper of the toy car i am building, so when the dc motor is in forward mode and hits a wall or something, the sensor will sense that and send a signal back to the micon and stop the motor and then put it in reverse direction. Can anyone suggest a specific sensor for this kind of application. Thanks

Ana

Post Edited By Moderator (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 4/5/2005 4:04:37 AM GMT

Gadgetman

Mount the bumper with springs so that it can move back a little bit, then stick a micro-switch or two behind it.
(Reading switches is explained quite well in the manual)

Paul Baker

a microswitch is the easiest and most straightforward method of accomplishing what you are looking for, an alternate method is detecting the current consumption of your DC motor (a stalled motor will draw more current than a running one). This article explains the method of doing it http://www.edn.com/article/CA323022.html?spacedesc=designideas·It was designed for a toy·car with no microcontroller, but by routing the feedback signal to a microcontroller instead·of the D flip flops can·place a microcontroller in the loop.·