Microchip PIC16F1938, Arduino, distance sensor –
A single report will cover the last two months.
In December Will Callahan presented his microcontroller project using the PIC16F1938 microcontroller along with the same distance sensor I’m using in the oil tank. His application senses the water level in a sump pump well and alarms if the level is too high. Using a battery backup, he also detects an AC power failure. Will also showed us how he calibrated his sensors using an empirical measurement. Clever!
At the November meeting I demonstrated the code a circuitry needed to use the ultrasonic distance sensor that is key to the fuel oil tank gauge. This past week (January) I finally tested the sensor in my fuel oil tank. My design was a total failure. I’ll cover what happened at the January meeting but I will say that a couple of members had speculated on the problem when I first proposed the design. For those just tuning in, this project uses an Arduino with an HC-SR04T “waterproof” ultrasonic distance sensor to measure the amount of fuel oil in the storage tank in my house. At least that was the plan.
In January, we’ll discuss my failed design. While I recoup and move on to temperature and humidity measurement, we’ll look at one or two Raspberry Pi projects that I would like to implement – a media center player and a network monitor. Unfortunately the January meeting occurs between newsletter deadline and publication.