Banner Sensors

[ESchneider]

Is anybody having trouble with the Banner sensors for this year? I was able to set it up all nice and stuff, but it only seems to detect objects and distance. Last years were able to see white and black. Any suggestions?

[KenWittlief]

they are designed to work with retro-reflective tape, but last years units were able to discriminate between the white tape and the carpet.

the ones we got this year are infared instead of visable red. I dont know if that changes the colors it will discriminate between.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by ESchneider

Is anybody having trouble with the Banner sensors for this year? I was able to set it up all nice and stuff, but it only seems to detect objects and distance. Last years were able to see white and black. Any suggestions?

Did you try adjusting the sensitivity using the black control on the back?

[ESchneider]

I tried adjusting the sensitivity on them. Nothing much happened there. I did not know that we were using reflective tape. That will help alot. Thanks!

[KenWittlief]

' it only seems to detect objects and distance."

I have no clue what you mean by this. The Banner Sensors emit a beam of pulsed light, and look for that beam to be reflected back

if it sees the reflection, it turns on

the beam is focused somewhat like a laser pointer - last year you could see the dot so you had a better idea of what it was hitting

it will reflect off retroreflective tape up to 20 feet away, and off other surfaces that are much closer.

so I dont understand what you mean when you say it will detect objects

and distances?!

maybe if you could explain what you want to use them for we can give you better answers.

[Ian W.]

Last year we did some testing and actually had them reflecting from over 30+ feet with retro-reflective tape.

However, other surfaces, like the palm of my hand, we had about an inch or two.

Any somewhat reflective surface should work decently though, I think.

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

it will reflect off retroreflective tape up to 20 feet away, and off other surfaces that are much closer.

Not true, as this year's Banner sensors are not the retroreflective model. This year the kit provided the "diffuse" model sensor instead, which is designed to sense a nearby object (100 to 400mm according to the specs). I haven't tried it, but according to the literature, these sensors shouldn't be able to detect retroreflective tape (unless it's really close, that is).

Check out this link at Banner Engineering for a description of the two different modes. Click on "Choosing a Sensor: Sensing Modes" and then choose either "Diffuse" or "Retroreflective" on the left hand side.

[thoughtful]

I thought that this years banner sensors are also retro reflective tape, as it turns out they are diffuse, can anyone tell me what type of surfaces or colors they can detect.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by thoughtful

I thought that this years banner sensors are also retro reflective tape, as it turns out they are diffuse, can anyone tell me what type of surfaces or colors they can detect.

Pretty much anything that reflects the detector light, including the carpet if your sensitivity is adjusted too high, and retroreflective tape. The effect of the diffuse light is to restricted detection range.

From the site Dave referenced here are detectabilities of some common materials:
http://info.bannersalesforce.com/xpe...1_s1_e.pdf.pdf