Topic: Maxbotix is now giving erratic readings

[miraculon]

After several years of continuous operation, my ultrasonic sensor has started giving erratic readings. I removed it and rewired it thinking that the connector had gone bad, but the same problem continued to occur. The target board was not in place yet, but I got reasonably good readings until this occurred even just reflecting off the grass. (slightly off due to the target board being missing)

I did leave it running all year including summer, maybe I should have shut it off during the summer season. (do these things 'wear out'?)

I just received the replacement unit, and I included the "F" option for the MB7534 SCXL-MaxSonar-WRS3. The F option includes an additional Teflon seal. (not that I think that the air around here is particularly corrosive).

I managed to catch a cold, so it will have to wait for a while before I can replace it.

You can enjoy it going nuts here:



Greg H.

[miraculon]

I replaced the sensor this morning, so far it is working well.

Time will tell, of course.

Greg H.

[miraculon]

Still working OK, at least to the bare PVC target board. Need some snow to be sure....

I saw a recommendation to add a 100uF cap at the power pins of the sensor. I added 150uF in my J-box since adding a cap right at the sensor was not practical. That seemed to remedy some data corruption that I saw every so often.

Greg H.