Thanks Thomas!
Often a final positive project report hides the winded roads of trials, which are very interesting if one is trying something similar but not same. :-)
Cheers Christof
So true! For me when I keep this as a hobby, the journey is sometimes more important than the goal itself. Even if the goal is not reached, I've learned something along the road.
The current taken from the DAC output goes through the diode, the resistor 2.2Ohms, the FET to GND.
In this case the current will be limited by the output of the opamp MCP6004 to about 20mA, which is the short protection current. So if you want to increase range there seems to be some potential here with an additional buffer transistor....
Sorry, if you already have been aware.
Christof
Thx Christof, and I was actually not aware. I'm more of a software than a hardware guy, so typically only use circuits proven to be more or less safe.
If I'd moved this outdoors instead of indoors, I might've needed a larger range, now the 12 meters or so was enough.
Switching to TSAL6100 with the narrower beam, and perhaps adding a lens as suggested by JonnyMac would at that point in time probably have been my next steps.
In our laser tag product we uses the TSAL6100 modulated at 56kHz. We can get up to 300m outdoors with our setup which does use a lens to focus the beam a bit, and for outdoor mode runs a lot of current through the LED (we use a FET for switching).
Comments
Thanks Thomas!
Often a final positive project report hides the winded roads of trials, which are very interesting if one is trying something similar but not same. :-)
Cheers Christof
So true! For me when I keep this as a hobby, the journey is sometimes more important than the goal itself. Even if the goal is not reached, I've learned something along the road.
Perhaps a very late comment about your beacon circuit: https://github.com/baljo/ice_robot/raw/main/images/Beacon electronics.png
The current taken from the DAC output goes through the diode, the resistor 2.2Ohms, the FET to GND.
In this case the current will be limited by the output of the opamp MCP6004 to about 20mA, which is the short protection current. So if you want to increase range there seems to be some potential here with an additional buffer transistor....
Sorry, if you already have been aware.
Christof
Thx Christof, and I was actually not aware. I'm more of a software than a hardware guy, so typically only use circuits proven to be more or less safe.
If I'd moved this outdoors instead of indoors, I might've needed a larger range, now the 12 meters or so was enough.
Switching to TSAL6100 with the narrower beam, and perhaps adding a lens as suggested by JonnyMac would at that point in time probably have been my next steps.
In our laser tag product we uses the TSAL6100 modulated at 56kHz. We can get up to 300m outdoors with our setup which does use a lens to focus the beam a bit, and for outdoor mode runs a lot of current through the LED (we use a FET for switching).