Hi: I'm building a rat trap which is basically a fast servo coupled to an IR sensor that in theory dumps em into bucket. The mechanical servo action seems fine but has lead me to wanting to count how many triggered events occur. Count could help fine tuning delay before action (false triggering) & let human optionally tally. The following is my first attempt using a blinking led for count display ... I'm not totally happy with results as the count/blink part of the loop tallys higher values it throws off the most important pause delay before triggering servo action. Also the blinking led may effect rat interaction at night... shure lights up my work bench! A two or three digit LCD would be a slick alternative. Thus I could eliminate led light altogether and I'd have a more consistent delay.
How to proceed, what do I need. Jamco,Mouser,Allide .... Some 3 digit displays appear to be really inexpensive, what driver? Software examples ?
here's what I have so far:
//two position servo with counting
#include <Servo.h>
#define SENSOR 5
int IRvalue = 0;
Servo myservo; // create servo object
int count=0; // reset count on re-start
//int ledState = LOW; // ledState used to set the LED
void setup()
{
pinMode (12 , OUTPUT); // "count" LED
pinMode (2 , OUTPUT); // "sensor active" LED
myservo.attach(9); // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object
myservo.writeMicroseconds(600);// assure servo starts in correct position
// Serial.begin(9600);// used to see actual SENSOR & count values
}
void loop()
{
IRvalue = analogRead (SENSOR)/100;// look at sensor
// light up led(2) when sensor is triggered / invert sensor output
if (IRvalue < 5){ // sensor normally higher than 5
digitalWrite(2,HIGH); // TRIGGERED
}
else{
digitalWrite(2,LOW); // NOT TRIGGERED
}
// Serial.println("Sensor LED set, BEGIN DELAY"); // text
// Serial.println("Sensor Delay Complete"); // text
if (IRvalue < 3) { //sensor output went low TRIGGERED
delay (3000); // eliminate false triggering
count=count+1;
myservo.writeMicroseconds(3400); // tell servo to go to active position in'
delay(1200); // wait for the servo to reach the position
myservo.writeMicroseconds(600); // tell servo to return to passive position
delay(100);
}
//Serial.println("Begin Count"); // text
//display count of IR trigger events
delay (700); //need some time to display count pulses
if(count>0){
for(int x = 0; x < count;x++)
{digitalWrite(12,HIGH);
delay(18);
digitalWrite(12,LOW);
delay (700);
}
//Serial.print("END OF LOOP count ="); // text
//Serial.println(count);// counting
}
}