now the expensive wireless probes generally have a little IR sender in the probe and a receiver located someone else in the machine to pick the signal up and then relay that via wire to the control cabinet.
all a probe is, is a switch. don't touch the probe and its connected, touch the end you break the connection and its disconnected. its simply two wires, nothing more.
my mill has been converted to mach3 and the control board is a PMDX, not exactly sure what one ill update when I get home later.
I have many spare inputs on the PMDX board I could use.
But I need a small IR sender for the actual probe, battery powered, like I say its just 2 wires coming out of the probe. Don’t touch the probe tip and the circuit is connected/complete, move the probe tip and the circuit is broken/disconnected. So that needs to be sent to an IR receiver located elsewhere in the mill, distance between sender and receiver max of 500mm.
Like I say I need to just look into PMDX board but I think all the receiver needs to do is feed 5v back into the PMDX board when the switch/probe circuit is connected and disconnect the 5v when the switch is open/probe tip is moved. I have a 5v PSU inside the control cabinet which I can use to power receiver.
Does that make sense?
I also 10 sets of these sender/receiver if possible.
My understanding is that the sensor is normally closed until something is touched and then it opens.
Simple Solution: Get a cheap ( small) IR remote online (<$1 incl shipping). Hack it to send a signal as needed. Tap into any of the buttons. You could also dispense of the enclusure and make a custom 3D print to suit. The logic will be inverted for the buttons so you need to use an inverter of some sort. You then have an arduino with the IRLib/IRremote sketch at the remote location.
+ Version:
attach an arduino nano running in low power mode to the sensor shaft. Remote location same as above.
Ultra version: Above, using flex circuits & smd components to approximate the $5K solution in terms of style.
So there you have 3 options.
PS: putting more current thru the IR LED and/or using multiple IR LEDS in series will give you a flood effect, if the orientation can change.
