raschemmel:
What is the hardware equivilent of the Hall circuit when not using a uC ? How is the Hall circuit used in that case ? If you can post a schematic of an application of the actuator without a uC perhaps that would provide some insight into the problem.
The hall effect sensor just provides pulses as the actuator moves. Same as the reed switch in the post above by pjp62mw.
Without a sensor, you can only turn it on and off one direction or the other with no clue how far it actually moves.
With one you can measure how far it moves per pulse and get relatively accurate movement. There's no way to know where it starts or finishes at power-up, so ultimately I'll add a calibration where it will retract until no pulses come, then extend until no pulses come, and count how many pulses it gets end-to-end. Then it'll move to whatever "home" position I ultimately want in the final application.
--Donnie