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- Ultrasonic Range Finder - LV-MaxSonar-EZ0
images are CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Description: This is the fantastically easy to use sensor from Maxbotix. We are extremely pleased with the size, quality, and ease of use of this little range finder. The serial interface is a bit odd (it’s RS232 instead of standard TTL), but the PWM and Analog interfaces will allow any micro to listen easily enough. The sensor provides very accurate readings of 0 to 255 inches (0 to 6.45m) in 1 inch increments with little or no dead zone!
Maxbotix is offering the EZ0, EZ1, EZ2, EZ3, and EZ4 with progressively narrower beam angles allowing the sensor to match the application. Please see beam width explanation below.
Control up to 10 sensors with only two pins! Checkout the Maxbotix FAQ listed below.
Features:
- 42kHz Ultrasonic sensor
- Operates from 2.5-5.5V
- Low 2mA supply current
- 20Hz reading rate
- RS232 Serial Output - 9600bps
- Analog Output - 10mV/inch
- PWM Output - 147uS/inch
- Small, light weight module
Documents:
Checkout Mikey Sklar’s flame-based trampoline, the high-lighter, using the EZ1!
Customer Reviews
1 out of 5
Based on 1 ratings:
No consistency in readings
This is the worst range finding sensor I’ve ever worked with. Sitting stationary in my garage it will read 110 inches, then 20 inches, then 40, then 110 with nothing around it moving. It’s pointed at a wall and should have no trouble finding the distance. I’ve tried it both with the analog and pwm output, and they both are equally noisy. There’s not enough consistency to it to even do some signal conditioning and get a useful value. I know it’s a wide band it detects, but when pointed at a wall 9' away I should be able to get a reading of 9' consistent enough to detect if there’s anything between it and the wall when nothing else around it is moving.
This seems very out of character for this product, which has historically been rock solid. I would suggest contacting our tech support team, they should be able to help get this issue resolved for you.
Does this reflect offor of water? Measure height of water in a container?
in case you need it,
Beam Width ≈ 70 degrees
After ~ 1.1m the beam width becomes ≈ 1.5m and after that doesn’t expand
I have tested it to a distance of about 3 meters which is the critical distance for my project
Beam Width diagram
This sensor has 1 inch resolution between 6" and 254". Any distance less than 6" will return 6" according to the datasheet and testing I have done.
Is the beam too wide to use in a sight glass? Basically, will it work in a tube less than 2 inches wide?
Part Number SEN-08502 Ultrasonic Range Finder - Maxbotix LV-EZ0 Customer Number 365466
Voltage for sensor coming from Arduino Uno 5 V Analog output is specified to be approximately 10 mV/inch We are reading the output into the Sketch Serial Windows (connected to Arduino) We are getting readings around 8” 13 9” 15 10” 17 11” 19
This is roughly 1.7 / Inch
What are we configuring or reading wrong? Answer: Figured it out! Arduino analog ranges from 0 to 1023. I will need to account for that!
is it possible to use this device to build a digital meter? i know that the max range is 7.65 and that ok for me now. is it possible to control the angle?? thnx
Would this be applicable to an autonomous plane, where this would be mounted facing to the side, and it would sense the presence of a wall? What I mean is, would the speed of a hobby airplane be too high for the signal receiver to work properly?
I haven’t tested yet, but am eyeballing this sensor for my project. Point is, I have looked at the Product webpage and it says the update rate is 20Hz, so it really depends on how fast you want to fly the plane :-)
Can I use this device to just send or just receive an ultrasonic wave ?
I don’t need the built-in ranging capabilities, but I do need to do both the transmission and the detection of ultrasonic waves at separate times for my project.
Just a note that may save some time: the TLL-level “RS232” output is inverted wrt RS232 TX. It’s ‘0’ non-active, and ‘1’ active.