IR LED & Receiver set up

parts-man73

Setting up my Boe-Bot with 2 IR LEDs and Receivers. I'm using a Propeller Proto Board and soldering them in place along the front (of the bot) side of the board. My question is this....

Is there an optimum position for each component? I realize the LEDs (with shields attached) must go in front of the Receivers, and I've noticed the most people mount the components with a slight angle out from centerline. But any experience with what works best?

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Brian

uController.com - home of SpinStudio

Mike Green

The IR detector has a pretty wide range of view. The IR LEDs have shields attached to narrow their beams. They're sort of like flashlights illuminating in front of the BoeBot. You'd like their beams to cover the midline so look at where the chip is located in the package and make a drawing with a mark where the chip is located and mark where the opening of the shield tube is located in relation to the chip. You should be able to figure out the angle you need to mount the LED to cover the midline. It's probably around 30 degrees (to the midline).

I'm using the PING and it's servo driven bracket and I've mounted the IR detector just above one end of the PING. I added a small shield so the detector has a narrower field of view and basically use both the PING and IR at about the same time as I pan the bracket. The IR LEDS cover a broad enough field of view so I didn't bother mounting them on the bracket. The code that I use for the PING and the IR is in BoeBotBasic if you need to have a look at it.

parts-man73

Thank you Mike. That's exactly what I needed to know. Since I am soldering them in place, I wanted it to be right the first time. You know the phrase, "measure twice, cut once"

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Brian

uController.com - home of SpinStudio