Author Topic: Can you identify class of this part?  (Read 4542 times)

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Offline bluerobinTopic starter

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Can you identify class of this part?
« on: October 26, 2010, 02:58:22 pm »
Hello to you all,

Attached is the photo of Coghlan's Big Screen Digital Compass. I am trying to identify the class of two green parts (circled). I've looked at the board and these two are the best candidates for the magnetic field detectors due to their north/south and east/west alignment. I would suspect these are hall effect linear field sensors, but all parts i can find on digikey have 3 contacts not two. The other alternative is the reed switch which matches in shape but not quite in functionality.

Anyone has an idea?


 

Offline JohnS_AZ

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Re: Can you identify class of this part?
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2010, 04:15:10 pm »
Damn I'm good.   ;D



Quote
PNI Corporation's Magneto-Inductive (MI) magnetic sensors are based on patented technology that delivers breakthrough, cost-effective magnetic field sensing performance. These sensors change inductance by 100% over their field measurement range. This variable inductance property is used in a patented temperature and noise stabilized oscillator/counter circuit to detect field variations. The Sensor Driver ASIC is the recommended implementation of this patented circuit, and can be used with the SEN-L to construct a magnetometer with up to 3-axes.

Toward the bottom of the following web page you'll see the part and links to the datasheet and ap-notes.

http://www.willow.co.uk/html/oem_compass.html

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Offline Time

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Re: Can you identify class of this part?
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2010, 04:18:53 pm »
Damn I'm good.   ;D



Quote
PNI Corporation's Magneto-Inductive (MI) magnetic sensors are based on patented technology that delivers breakthrough, cost-effective magnetic field sensing performance. These sensors change inductance by 100% over their field measurement range. This variable inductance property is used in a patented temperature and noise stabilized oscillator/counter circuit to detect field variations. The Sensor Driver ASIC is the recommended implementation of this patented circuit, and can be used with the SEN-L to construct a magnetometer with up to 3-axes.

Toward the bottom of the following web page you'll see the part and links to the datasheet and ap-notes.

http://www.willow.co.uk/html/oem_compass.html



lol nice
-Time
 

Offline bluerobinTopic starter

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Re: Can you identify class of this part?
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2010, 04:47:39 pm »
great, thank you very much!

Too bad i can't find it on any of my regular distributors (digikey, etc). I bet it would be a much cheaper solution than the $20 HMC5843. The whole digital compass was selling for $18 on amazon.
 

Offline JohnS_AZ

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Re: Can you identify class of this part?
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2010, 05:07:50 pm »
I doubt it would actually be cheaper.

You'd need two or three of the sensors, and their ASIC to drive them all.

IMHO, $20 for the HMC part is really quite a bargain, considering it's a 3-axis magnetometer with a pretty simple interface. The Coghlan is only two axis, which is why you have to hold it flat and level to get an accurate reading.
I'm either at my bench, here, or on PokerStars.
 

Online Mechatrommer

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Re: Can you identify class of this part?
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2010, 05:24:36 pm »
right inside my brain. to build an electronics compass! 3-Axis is a plus. where to get this?

"These sensors change inductance by 100%"
what does this mean? maximum Henry when heading south or north and 0H when heading west,east? or...
maximum Henry when heading north and 0H when heading south, in between when heading west,east?
« Last Edit: October 26, 2010, 05:28:09 pm by shafri »
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 

Offline JohnS_AZ

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Re: Can you identify class of this part?
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2010, 05:32:12 pm »
Google "3-axis magnetometer"    :)
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Online Mechatrommer

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Re: Can you identify class of this part?
« Reply #7 on: October 26, 2010, 07:24:20 pm »
found in sparkfun. why they spec its resolution as uT unit? cant it be just plain degree? $60? quite a price :)

some variation i found:
HMC6352
Digital 6 in 1 Compass
2 Axis Magnetometer with UART & i2c

i just found out that i bought the 3rd from sureelectronics a time ago, but never put it into use. not sure how good it is esp when in tilted position.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2010, 07:28:11 pm by shafri »
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 

Offline marianoapp

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Re: Can you identify class of this part?
« Reply #8 on: October 27, 2010, 01:44:13 am »
why they spec its resolution as uT unit? cant it be just plain degree?
because it's a magnetometer, not a compass, so it must measure using a magnetic field strength unit, like the Tesla
 


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