Controlling existing relays
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@Sparkman
I tried powering the Megas radio from a Nanos 3.3V pin and GND. The Nano is working fine as a sensor by itself, so I guess the radio gets enough power from it. However, this way I only got "check wires" from the Mega... :(Just a thought; if it helps, I'm defining these pins for the Mega in my sketch, but I don't see how that could affect this particular problem...
const int relayPin[] = {22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29}; const int currentPin[] = {A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9}; -
@Sparkman
I tried powering the Megas radio from a Nanos 3.3V pin and GND. The Nano is working fine as a sensor by itself, so I guess the radio gets enough power from it. However, this way I only got "check wires" from the Mega... :(Just a thought; if it helps, I'm defining these pins for the Mega in my sketch, but I don't see how that could affect this particular problem...
const int relayPin[] = {22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29}; const int currentPin[] = {A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9};@twosh What happens if you remove those lines or comment them out? I have used a Mega with an NRF24 successfully before with the NRF powered from the 3.3v source on the Mega, but I didn't have any sensors connected. I would try a very simple sketch first to see if that works.
Cheers
Al -
Thanks @sparkman for once again nudging me in the right direction!
I went trough the code in my sketch a couple of times commenting out various sections and suddenly the sensor started functioning correctly. So I checked that function closely and noticed that I was out of bounds in a for-loop. that stupid NUMBER_OF_CURRENT_PINS +1 . That +1 had accidentally stayed there from an early version of the sketch. Correcting that, my sketch seems to load without problems - go figure! :P -
Great, thanks for the clarifications @Sparkman !
Being able to measure power would of course be a nice bonus! I'll think about it. I have another question (of course... :) ).
The Nano and Pro mini have only 6 analogue inputs, I would be having need for 8... Would I need to use two arduinos or is there any other way?
Best,
Tim@twosh said:
Great, thanks for the clarifications @Sparkman !
Being able to measure power would of course be a nice bonus! I'll think about it. I have another question (of course... :) ).
The Nano and Pro mini have only 6 analogue inputs, I would be having need for 8... Would I need to use two arduinos or is there any other way?
Best,
TimHave you thought of sticking a hall effect sensor to the outside of the relay. Or in the magnetic flux.
Phil
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@twosh said:
Great, thanks for the clarifications @Sparkman !
Being able to measure power would of course be a nice bonus! I'll think about it. I have another question (of course... :) ).
The Nano and Pro mini have only 6 analogue inputs, I would be having need for 8... Would I need to use two arduinos or is there any other way?
Best,
TimHave you thought of sticking a hall effect sensor to the outside of the relay. Or in the magnetic flux.
Phil
@phil-pritchard No, not really. As I've mentioned tinkering with hardware is new to me so I don't actually have any knowledge of what exists and whats possible from that side of the table. Would you like to expand on your thoughts? :)
I've ordered a bunch of these hall effect sensors: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221649135732?rmvSB=true
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@twosh said:
Great, thanks for the clarifications @Sparkman !
Being able to measure power would of course be a nice bonus! I'll think about it. I have another question (of course... :) ).
The Nano and Pro mini have only 6 analogue inputs, I would be having need for 8... Would I need to use two arduinos or is there any other way?
Best,
TimHave you thought of sticking a hall effect sensor to the outside of the relay. Or in the magnetic flux.
Phil
@phil-pritchard said:
Have you thought of sticking a hall effect sensor to the outside of the relay. Or in the magnetic flux.
Phil
The relays are latching relays, so there would only be magnetic flux present for short durations. You would have a pulse when the light was turned on and one when the light was turned of, so you would have to find a way to count these pulses to know what state the light was in. The risk is that you would miss one and then be out of sync.
Cheers
Al -
@phil-pritchard No, not really. As I've mentioned tinkering with hardware is new to me so I don't actually have any knowledge of what exists and whats possible from that side of the table. Would you like to expand on your thoughts? :)
I've ordered a bunch of these hall effect sensors: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221649135732?rmvSB=true