Problem with Photoswitches

[Rwaas]

I have the three photoswitches mounted face down with the lenses 5 inches above the ground. They are not reading the gaffer's tape but was reading some regular black duct tape before. Anyone know what's happening or have a similar issue?

[Dale]

Have you tried adjusting the thresholds of the sensors with the screwdriver adjustments? They are working fine for us with the standard FRC carpet and GRAY Gaffers tape.

[JCharlton]

I tried them last night. Reading straight down was my problem. Mounting them at an angle to the ground (45 degrees or so) and they worked like a charm at multiple heights.

[Dale]

And remember the tape is GRAY not the usual black Gaffers tape.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

JC,
Is the tape you are using the shiny gaffer's tape? Some highly reflective tapes may not sense as well as others. the fact that you can sense with the snesors pointed away indicates that reflection may be a problem for your tape.

[JCharlton]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

JC,
Is the tape you are using the shiny gaffer's tape? Some highly reflective tapes may not sense as well as others. the fact that you can sense with the snesors pointed away indicates that reflection may be a problem for your tape.

Funnily enough we couldn't find any gaffers/duct tape in the shop. This was with regular electrical tape more to test the wiring. Reflection undoubtedly was the problem.

That said, I was impressed with how well the sensor would detect a single stripe of electrical tape at 6" or more. Calibration is easy too.

[Rwaas]

Thanks, pointing the sensors at an angle helped a lot. And yes, we are using the black gaffers tape since that was all we could find. As long as the tape is darker than the carpet color things should go smoothly correct?

[Dale]

At least in visible light the gray gaffers tape is LIGHTER than the carpet color.

[DarrinMunter]

Were testing ours at 4 inches high and using standard duck tape. This is working enough for the software team to write the code needed. We'll just have the sensors easy to get to so we can adjust them at our practice feild or at competition.