I'm currently using two VL53L1X distance sensors that stopped working out of nowhere. The exact same thing happened with the VL53L0X distance sensors.
Here's the link to the VL53L1X sensors i was using:
I was looking for any distance sensors recommendations. The VL53L1X / VL53L0X are no longer an option for me, since they are extremely inconsistent and I've struggled a lot with both of them. I'm looking for something that can measure up to 2 meters. I reasearched for a while and stumbled upon a lot of different sensors, but i'd like to have an opinion from someone with a sensor that has worked.
What are the requirements?
What is the maximum range? (OK 2 meters)
What is the minimum range?
What is the accuracy you need?
What is the precision you need?
How often do you need to measure?
Watertight? Silent or noisy environment?
....
The HC-SR04 is quite robust, cheap and its working pretty straightforward.
never had any problems with Pololu VL53L1X / VL53L0X TOF sensors
what host microcontroller are you using?
how are the VL53L1X / VL53L0X sensors connected and powered?
what other devices are connected to the microcontroller?
how do you power the system?
what is the environment?
You're right my request was kind of vague. I was looking for something that can measure up to 2-ish meters (or more, doesn't matter), and that's fairly accurate and precise, since it will be implemented in a machine that'll measure stuff from a distance (1.5 meters or so), therefore minimum distance is not important. As for specific numbers, up to 10 maybe 15 mm of error would be acceptable, and the sensor should be capable of taking readings every 50 ms. I've considered the ToF sensors may be the best option, since i consider them to be fairly more accurate. Since i was looking for something precise, i was looking for a sensor with a fairly small FoV. The FoV on the sensors i was using was 27 degrees i believe.
The environment in which the sensor will be working in will be silent, and doesn't need to be watertight. I was also looking for a sensor that will work with I2C, since the connection cables between the Nano and the sensors are very short.
I've seen very good reviews about the VL53L1X / VL53L0X TOF sensors from Polulu, the thing is that the sensors i bought are not made by Polulu. The company is chinese i beliveve, DWEII, which make the electronic board in which the VL53L1X sensors are on. Since there is no datasheet for the electronic board (At least i haven't found one), i don't know where the problem relies on that they just suddenly stop working. I don't know if to add any extra Pull-Up resistors (VL53L1X Sensors worked "fine" until i added a 4.7k Ohm pull-up resistor to each SDA and SCL wire haha), or to do anything else.
The microcontroller i'm using is the Nano 33 IoT. The connections were simple, I was just using the sensor and the microcontroller, no other stuff. Power supply directly from my computer.
Microcontroller - Sensor
3.3V - VIN
GND - GND
SDA - SDA
SCL - SCL
To be honest, it's also kind of my fault to buy these sensors, since someone left a review with the exact same problem, namely "senors stop working for unknown reasons" (image attached)
Would you recommend buying the sensors but from Polulu? Have you had any issues like the I2C directions not being assigned after disconnecting and reconnecting the power supply? How long have you been using them for?
are you asking about I2C addresses?
with the ones I used the I2C address was reset to default on powerup
when initializing devices I tended to use the XSHUT pin to disable/enable devices when changing I2C addresses
Yes, i meant addresses but got confused, the word in spanish is "direcciones". My issue with the VL53L10X sensors is that when everything was working fine, the addresses weren't reassigned to the sensors after disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable to my computer. To get them working again, I had to switch the addresses and reupload the code. I created a topic about this issue about a month ago if you’d like to check it out. Even after adding longer delays between disabling devices it still wouldn't work.
in an application measuring the water level in two connected chambers on powerup I would use XSHUT to disable TOF device 1, change the I2C address of device 2, then enable device 1
I then had two TOF devices with different I2C addresses until next power down
