VEX Accelerometer

[wdburk3160]

I posted this in another forum, but I guess this one is more appropriate. Our team is wanting to use a VEX Accelerometer for our robot. I have looked up the specs but they are very vague. Anyone know of any detailed specs on that? And any ideas on programming it?

[Ether]

Originally Posted by wdburk3160

I posted this in another forum, but I guess this one is more appropriate. Our team is wanting to use a VEX Accelerometer for our robot. I have looked up the specs but they are very vague. Anyone know of any detailed specs on that? And any ideas on programming it?

Go to the VEX website http://www.vexrobotics.com

Type "accelerometer" into the yellow search box and press ENTER

Click on the link that says "VEX Analog Accelerometer Sensor"

Scroll down to the link that says "documentation" and click on that.

The very first paragraph on that page says:

The VEX Analog Accelerometer V1.0 [1] is a three-axis accelerometer that outputs an analog voltage in the range of 0V - 5V for each of three orthogonal axis (X, Y, and Z). This accelerometer is based on the LIS344ALH[2] sensor from STMicroelectronics [3].

So, try connecting the accelerometer to an analog input. LabVIEW supports analog inputs.

Just curious: what do you intend to use that accelerometer for?

[beandip3160]

Using this website ( http://team358.org/files/programming...2009-/LabVIEW/ ) The accelerometer example that this team uses an Accelerometer Set Gain vi which as it states says that it is the volts per gravity of acceleration. It says that the information can be found on the spec sheet for the accelerometer. Is this the same as the sensitivity on the vex sheet? If it isn't then what are the gains on the vex acelerometer?

[Ether]

Originally Posted by beandip3160

what are the gains on the vex acelerometer?

Follow these instructions:

Originally Posted by Ether

Go to the VEX website http://www.vexrobotics.com

Type "accelerometer" into the yellow search box and press ENTER

Click on the link that says "VEX Analog Accelerometer Sensor"

Scroll down to the link that says "documentation" and click on that.

... then scroll down to the section "Sensitivity Ranges"

[beandip3160]

This is what the vex site says...

Function
Sensor Type:3-Axis Acceleration
Sensor:LIS344ALH chip
Sensitivity:±2g and ±6g

I was wondering if the sensitivity was the same thing, although the VEX accelerometer has two settings switched via jumper so I wasn't sure.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by beandip3160

This is what the vex site says...

Function
Sensor Type:3-Axis Acceleration
Sensor:LIS344ALH chip
Sensitivity:±2g and ±6g

This is what the document says. Look inside the red circle.

[beandip3160]

Oh... I feel silly. Thank you for your help, and your patience.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by beandip3160

Thank you for your help, and your patience.

You are welcome. Patience is called for as long as people are making an effort.

What are you trying to achieve with the accelerometer?

[beandip3160]

Well, even after all of that effort, I think we are going to be using a gyro instead. We need to detect an angle, or to know when a specific part of our robot is going to be level or tilted.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by beandip3160

Well, even after all of that effort, I think we are going to be using a gyro instead. We need to detect an angle, or to know when a specific part of our robot is going to be level or tilted.

OK :-)

I was concerned that you were going to try to double-integrate that acceleration signal.