2024-05-04, 09:18 PM
(This post was last modified: 2024-05-04, 09:18 PM by seandepagnier.)
(2024-05-03, 03:32 AM)barnaclebill22 Wrote: I actually do have a sort of angular Hall sensor: a Honeywell rotation sensor. It's analog and works with a magnet on the mast. It works well but the sensor costs $600 and I'm investigating ways to do the same thing for less money.
I also tried Hall effect sensors, but I found that they are more or less "binary": the sensor's output is near zero when the magnet is far, and climbs exponentially to Vin when the magnet approaches. So it would require around 50 sensors to detect a range of 100 degrees of motion.
I tried TOF sensors (don't work outside in daylight) and ultrasonic sensors (far too much noise and narrow beam).
For now, the dual compass solution seems to be working, and over time I will compare it to the output from the Honeywell to see if it's good enough for polars. Since the two sensors are physically close, and my boat has almost no ferrous metals, I'm hoping any distortions will affect each the same. Accuracy of 5 degrees is fine for steering, but if I could get down to a couple of degrees of error it would be ideal because then I could log data for effective VMG.
I make rudder feedback sensors on my store (https://pypilot.org/opencart/index.php?r...duct_id=60) One of these would certainly work for a mast rotation sensor.
Yes, what you need is an angular hall sensor. The one I am using is mlx90316, but I also am developing sensors with a fully digital sensor using SPI. The angle measured is to 0.1 degrees. You said something about $600 I have no idea about this, these sensors are $1.50 for the chinese version and up to $4 for other brands. The magnet itself might cost $1 and so forth, and making everything with delrin bushings and 3d printing parts and potting compoud etc cost a lot more than the sensor itself but still not $600.