[DIY 102]
Do it yourself !
Parts List:
1 Buffered 3D Accelerometer $35
Available at DimensionEngineering
1 CB220 Start Kit $99
1 CVFD-216 $54
Available at Comfile Technology
Today I received my accelerometer from Dimension Engineering, I was so excited and couldn t wait to start making something w/ it. So I figured I could follow the app note on their web site for making a G-meter.
I figured that I could just do it with the CB220 module and a Plug-N-Play LCD from Comfile in matter of minutes.
The following is the accelerometer’s pin outs from the product data sheet:
The accelerometer has a 3.3V regulator so we can use the 333mV/g as sensitity for our G-meter.
Since the CUBLOC CB220 module has analog inputs, we can simply connect X, Y, Z analog outputs of the accelerometer to the AD pins on the CB220.
Make connections like shown below:
(Close-up of connections on the study board) Then, you can connect the LCD using the connectors.
When done, you should have something like above.
Simply download the Accelerometer.zip and download to your CB220 module using CublocStudio.Now you should be able to get 1G on your LCD readings when you move your study board vertically and horizontally. Now go to your car and strap the study board on to your center console like this:
(Study Board Strapped to center Console of my car) And then place the LCD on your dashboard.
video://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DcN6r1uHP4
See video of G-meter in Action:
video://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YTWtHVm8lU
Next time, I will have to try this on my motorcycle.
It seems like my car can handle up to about 0.4Gs at the most.
You can see in the video when the vehicle is decelerating, the Gs are negative.
You can modify the code to have a calibration of your G-Meter by noting the voltage output when the G-Meter is at a complete stop.
Oh yeah, here a link to how to make the stopwatch used in the video: Link
Source Code:
[Accelerometer001.cul]
Const Device = CB220
#define CALIBRATE 1.674805
Dim X As Integer
Dim Y As Integer
Dim Z As Integer
Dim sX As Single
Dim sY As Single
Dim sZ As Single
Dim gX As Single
Dim gY As Single
Dim gZ As Single
Dim strX As String
Dim strY As String
Dim strZ As String
‘Set P0, P1, and P2 to input
Input 0
Input 1
Input 2
Set Display 2,0,0,128
X=1
Cls
Delay 100
Csroff
Do
X=Tadin(0)
Y=Tadin(1)
‘ Z=Tadin(2)
sX=(X*5.0)/1024.0
sY=(Y*5.0)/1024.0
‘ sZ=(Z*5.0)/1024.0
gY=(sY-CALIBRATE)/0.333
gX=(sX – CALIBRATE)/0.333
‘ gZ=(sZ – CALIBRATE)/0.333
Debug Goxy,0,0,”X axis: “,Dec X,Cr
Debug “X voltage: “,Float sX,Cr
Debug “X G: “,Float gX,Cr
strX=Float gX
strX=Left(strX,5)
‘Print to LCD
Locate 0,0
Print “X: “,strX
Debug Goxy,0,4
Debug “Y axis: “,Dec Y,Cr
Debug “Y voltage: “,Float sY,Cr
Debug “Y G: “,Float gY,Cr
strY=Float gY
strY=Left(strY,5)
‘Print to LCD
Locate 0,1
Print “Y: “,strY
‘ Display 0,Float gY
‘ Debug “Z axis: “,Dec Z,Cr
‘ Debug “Z voltage: “,Float sZ,Cr
‘ Debug “Z G: “,Float gZ,Cr
Delay 300
Loop
End
Taking it further…
You can probably do some acceleration calculations to get
your mph, keep track of 1/4 mile times, etc…etc…
If you are having any trouble with above app, please e-mail max@zedomax.com
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Neat idea. I’m wondering if you have done any calculations to see how accurate this is? I suppose it would be hard to test without knowing the accuracy of your speedometer as well.
Actually it’s pretty accurate because the measurements are done by the microcontroller on the accelerometer. That’s the beauty of it.
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