[daniellyall]

hope you find the problem

[Al_The_Man]

What type of meter are you using? On my fluke meter on the tone setting is for Diode check, Because the normal resistance range is not suitable for diode check due to insufficient forward bias current on this range, so the diode/tone range only registers tone on very low resistance and actually indicates voltage drop.
On 2.2k the tone would not register.
Yours may be similar.
Al.

[Falcon69]

B&K Instruments 388A

It also has a diode checker, as well as the tone. The diode checker comes in handy, to find out what the color of the LED is.

It seems mine is registering different than yours. I have tone on the 2k2 and the 150, but not the 82ohm. :shrug:

[Al_The_Man]

I am assuming the tone is for detecting very low resistance which 2.2k is not?
You should be using the appropriate resistance range, but keep in mind that when checking resistance in circuit there may be other elements in circuit with the resistor that are affecting the reading.
Your meter manual shows the tone will sound for resistance less than 150ohms.
http://www.bkprecision.com/downloads...88A_manual.pdf
Al.

[Falcon69]

we might be talking about different things. On my meter, the icon shows what looks like a little speaker. I think all it does is measure weather or not a wire has been broken somewhere along the length inside of insulation or whatever. It detects open or closed circuits. Open ciruict, no tone, closed circuit, tone. Connect the red lead to one side of wire, connect the black lead to the other side.

But, appearently, if the resistor is too low (< 100 Ohms) it won't sound a tone, thinking its an open circuit?

Heck, I don't know.

I'm going to school, but not for electronics, allthough, I'm having a lot of fun playing around with this circuit, as frustrating as it is, I may just change my major.

[Falcon69]

I think I found the problem. It's not the circuit boards, but rather my USB cable. 5pin my Arse! I cut the cable in half, there's only 4 wires in it, instead of 5. Looks like I may have to make the cables as well. I'm going to have to figure out how to set up a simple website, so people can order and pick the size of cable they need so I can custom make them. Bummer. I was hoping those could have just been bought on eBay, but it appears that they are only 5pin connector but only 4 wires inside. I checked the shielded USB cables also. 5-pin connector, but only 5 wires and the shielding. The shielding is connected to the metal of the connector, that would result in a short circuit.

So, stay tuned, let me put that theory to work and see if I can solder on 5 wires to the mini usb plugs and plug them all in, see if it works.

[Al_The_Man]

we might be talking about different things. On my meter, the icon shows what looks like a little speaker. I think all it does is measure weather or not a wire has been broken somewhere along the length inside of insulation or whatever. It detects open or closed circuits. Open ciruict, no tone, closed circuit, tone. Connect the red lead to one side of wire, connect the black lead to the other side.

But, appearently, if the resistor is too low (< 100 Ohms) it won't sound a tone, thinking its an open circuit?
.

Like I said, in the manual for your meter it is called a continuity test and will register a tone on anything less than 150ohms.
Used mainly for detecting direct (short circuit) connections.
Al.

[Falcon69]

Tested. Nothing wrong with my circuits *whew!*.

Those stupid cables. Damn, that's going to add to my cost having to make the cables. The cable tray flexible rated cable in shielded 22awg 5-conductor is spendy.

[john-100]

mini USB cables is something I'd not looked at in detail until today

the extra pin on the mini USB connector can be used to ID the device
but only appears to be connected on the more expensive , branded cables

before buying the plugs to make your own cables
check the plug has a terminal on the ID pin

the first two suppliers I checked
the plug from Maplin only has 4 terminals while the plug from RS components
has 5 teminals

John

[Falcon69]

ya, checked. The cables i have do in fact have 5 contacts on the male mini usb connector of the cable, however, there are only 4 wires when you cut the cable in half.

I would need to find a supplier that has the cables shielded and are in fact true 5-pin (meaning, 5 wires inside the cable) and have the cables in various lengths so the average consumer can purchase the size hey need.

[Al_The_Man]

Check out MonoPrice, so far I have found them the cheapest - fastest source of good quality cables, they may have what you are looking for?
http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...03&cp_id=10303
Al.

[Falcon69]

Guys,

Ran out of cash, so the switches are put on hold right now. I'm still needing to purchase cable, sensors, magnets, male ends for the usb, and the PID controller to convert the toaster into a reflow oven. I have to wait till I can get more cash.

On another note. Got home today and atm, I'm very pissed at my cat right now. Does young kitty-cat meat taste good?

She got up on my desk and nocked my prject box full of resistors, diodes, and capacitors off. They all got mixed up. Now I have to grab a magnifying glass and try and seperate 10,000 mixed size 0805 resistors and capacitors. I have 5 different values of resistors .

At this point, I think it might be less frustrating to just trash them and buy them over again. LOL

[epineh]

I feel your pain with animals, a couple of weeks ago my dog decided to chew to pieces a timber pattern of a spindle mount for my next machine that I was going to cast in ally...it had taken me weeks to make...arg !

I guess the upside is that I re-designed it to be a little better, and made sure the new one is out of reach this time until I pour it.

Know what you mean about the cash side of things as well, if I ever win the lottery I think I will sponsor a few people on this forum to make some REALLY cool stuff !!!

Cheers.

Russell.

[jm82792]

People think reef tanks are difficult, but I find them easier, and less worry then terrestrial animals.

[Falcon69]

I just tested the mainboard for the limit switches. Here are the results.




The first one is how it was drawn up (schematic). The second one was just to see what the voltage readings would be.

Which is the correct way to send a signal to the breakout board?

Also, there will be a jumper after the diodes on the mainboard that will connect the X-Axis A&B together, as well as a jumper for the Y-Axis A&B and Z-Axis A&B. If I put the diode facing the way it is in the first one (the one with negative voltage out), will it be all messed up if the jumper is used? I placed the jumper there just in case someone wanted to only have 3 outputs to the breakout board, instead of six (well, 7 if you count the home switch).

[RomanLini]

Hi, the second test looks correct as the voltage on the "out" pin should be high when NO magnet is there, and low when the magnet South pole is present.

I'm not sure what you mean by "diodes on the mainboard". Maybe if you have a simple schematic etc I can (or someone can) suggest how to wire it?

If you are connecting multiple hall switches through diodes they should be oriented so that any switch that is activated with a magnet will pull the signal line low, through the diode. Hope that helps!

[epineh]

I am not sure if anybody has tried them and I know they got mentioned in the first 10 pages of this thread somewhere but there are 50 piece lots of the Allegro A3144 for sale on Ebay, for about $9.00 US with free postage from China, I am thinking of living on the edge and gambling my hard earned cash (all 9.00 bucks of it) and trying them.

I will post results once I try them out.

Cheers.

Russell.

[Falcon69]

Epineh

I have found no difference in operation of those, vs. the SS441A that I bought through digikey. Other then the temp difference. But, most our machines won't be operating in that temp range. as far as triggering, i have noticed no difference in the distance from magnet to sensor for triggering. they both seem to operat identical.

I should have mine ready to sell soon. Tey take awhile to do. The Dual LED's ones are taking me about 1.5hours each just to solder up the 15 LED's onto their wire leads, but they do look nice.

I should be getting the rest of the stuff in the next few weeks to assemble them. I'm still waiting on a few things, like the PID controller for the toaster oven so I can reflow all the solder.

[epineh]

That is good to know, thanks for that.

I scored a few sheets of quite thick perspex and will use offcuts from that to make a few home switches, can't wait to try them out.

[eberssco]

Just wanted to say thanks to all who have contributed to this discussion. I'm getting ready to build my first cnc and came across this discussion and learned tons about hall sensors and can't wait to build these. Only wish I could have contributed something... Thanks again!