Fairly beginner here, and trying to finish this project for my boys. If anyone wants to dive into this deeper, I'd welcome your support, but for now, I can't figure out why Arduino cod doesn't retain a value that I try to set in the loop.
When I set SensorFinish1 = 1; it doesn't seem to keep it next time through the loop. If a condition is met, (sensor beam is broken), I was thinking of setting SensorFinish to 1 so next time through the loop, the code will know that a Hot Wheels car has finished and it won't rewrite the time. (Closer to end of code)
This is the whole thing, so I apologize if this is too much code (still new to forum and to coding)
// Name Raceway Test
unsigned long TimeLane1; // Finish line lane 1
unsigned long TimeLane2; // Finish line lane 2
float StartTime = 0;
float FinishTime1 = 0;
float FinishTime2 = 0;
float StartTimeC;
int StartState = 0;
#include <LiquidCrystal_I2C.h>
LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x27, 16, 2);
// variables will change:
int SensorState1 = 1; // variable for reading the sensor status
int SensorState2 = 1; // variable for reading the sensor status
int LaneState1 = 0; // variable for reading the sensor status
int LaneState2 = 0; // variable for reading the sensor status
const int StartSwitch = 2; // Switch on D3 PIN
const int LaneLED1 = 9; // Lane 1 winning LED on D9 PIN
const int LaneLED2 = 10; // Lane 2 winning LED in D10 PIN
const int SensorPin1 = 11; // Finish line lane 1 IR on D11 PIN
const int SensorPin2 = 12; // Finish line lane 2 IR on D12 PIN
const int BoardLED = 13;
int SensorFinish1 = 0; // Records if a sensor was tripped
int SensorFinish2 = 0; // Records if a sensor was tripped
int sensorThresh = 500; // Sets the trigger sensing threshold of the IR receivers. ~1000 = high
int n = 0;
void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
Serial.begin(9600);
lcd.init();
lcd.backlight();
lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
lcd.print("Lane 1 Lane 2");
// initialize the sensor pin as an input:
pinMode(SensorPin1, INPUT);
digitalWrite(SensorPin1, HIGH); // turn on the pullup
pinMode(SensorPin2, INPUT);
digitalWrite(SensorPin2, HIGH); // turn on the pullup
pinMode(BoardLED, OUTPUT); // initialize the LED pin as an output:
pinMode(StartSwitch, INPUT); // initialize the Reset Switch pin as an input:
pinMode(LaneLED1, OUTPUT); // Initialize the Lane 1 LED as an output:
pinMode(LaneLED2, OUTPUT); // Initialize the Lane 2 LED as an output:
Serial.print( "StartTime: ");
Serial.println(StartTime, 4);
StartTime = 0;
TimeLane1 = 0;
TimeLane2 = 0;
// StartTime = micros(); // Use micro seconds (1,000,000 microseconds in a second)
}
void loop() {
StartState = digitalRead(StartSwitch);
// Serial.print( "StartState: ");
// Serial.println(StartState);
// Serial.print( "SensorState1: ");
// Serial.println(SensorState1);
Serial.print( "SensorFinish1: ");
Serial.println(SensorFinish1);
// check if StartSwitch is pressed/closed, if it is, the gate is up, sensorState is HIGH, or 1:
if (StartState == HIGH) {
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print("Ready");
lcd.setCursor(10, 1);
lcd.print("Ready");
StartTime = micros() ;
digitalWrite(LaneLED1, HIGH); // turn Lane 1 LED on
digitalWrite(LaneLED2, HIGH); // turn Lane 2 LED on
digitalWrite(BoardLED, HIGH); // turn Board LED on
SensorFinish1 = 0;
SensorFinish2 = false;
// Serial.print( "StartTime: ");
// Serial.println(StartTime,4);
digitalWrite(LaneLED1, LOW); // turn LED off:
digitalWrite(LaneLED2, LOW); // turn LED off:
}
else { // Start has opened, its race mode, start watching for finish
SensorState1 = digitalRead(SensorPin1); // read the state of the IR value
SensorState2 = digitalRead(SensorPin2); // read the state of the IR value
TimeLane1 = micros() ; // start reading time to know when sensor is tripped
TimeLane2 = micros() ; // start reading time to know when sensor is tripped
if (SensorFinish1 = 0) { // if car hasn't finished, show time
digitalWrite(LaneLED1, LOW); // turn Lane 1 LED off
digitalWrite(LaneLED2, LOW); // turn Lane 2 LED off
digitalWrite(BoardLED, LOW); // turn Board LED off
FinishTime1 = TimeLane1 - StartTime;
FinishTime1 = FinishTime1 / 1000000;
lcd.setCursor(0, 1); // Set display position: first block, second row
lcd.print(FinishTime1, 4); // Display time
}
// check if the sensor beam 1 is broken, if it is, the sensorState is LOW:
if (SensorState1 == LOW) {
SensorFinish1 = 1; // Set variable to 1 that car has finished, to show final time
digitalWrite(LaneLED1, HIGH); // turn Lane 1 LED on [insert check for finisher]
FinishTime1 = TimeLane1 - StartTime;
FinishTime1 = FinishTime1 / 1000000;
lcd.setCursor(0, 1); // Set display position: first block, second row
lcd.print(FinishTime1, 4); // Display time
digitalWrite(LaneLED1, HIGH); // turn LED on:
// Serial.print( "FinishTime1: ");
// Serial.println(FinishTime1,4);
// Serial.print( "StartTime: ");
// Serial.println(StartTime,4);
// Serial.print( "Micros: ");
// Serial.println(micros(),4);
}
else {
// turn LED off:
digitalWrite(LaneLED1, LOW); // turn LED off:
}
// check if the sensor beam 2 is broken, if it is, the sensorState is LOW:
if (SensorState2== LOW) {
digitalWrite(LaneLED2, HIGH); // turn LED on:
}
else {
digitalWrite(LaneLED2, LOW); // turn LED off:
}
}
}
