Find correct sensor settings

[nofear87]

Can you please help to find the correct sensor settings?

I have Pololu 37D Motor with enconders. See https://www.pololu.com/product/1442 -> "Using the Encoder" for detailed information.

I have connected A Output to A6 then starting with this example:

var sensor = new five.Sensor("A6");
sensor.on("change", function() {
   console.log(this.value);
 });

But getting just curious data between 0-1000. I think I haven't the correct settings now?
Is it maybe an digital signal!? Did I need hardware interupts?

Thanks!

[dtex]

Are the values in bunches at the far ends of the 0-1000 range, all at one end, or are the spread evenly? I would expect to see a bunch near 0, then a bunch near 1000, then a bunch near 0, and so on.

[nofear87]

Thanks for fast answer. They spread evenly. 

[dtex]

Then I would suspect a floating ground. Can I see how the encoders are wired to your microcontroller?

I assume the motor is turning as expected.

[nofear87]

@dtex I switched from external power source to arduino mega powering. And now the values are in bunches at the far ends! I used scaleTo(0,1) to get true and false values. But how can I determine direction and steps without an interrupt? Thank you!

[dtex]

@nofear87 Sorry, nothing has changed since this post. To make it happen you will need a special version of firmata which you can get over at configurablefirmata.com, then you will need to add support for the firmata encoder protocol to firmata.js, and then finally add support to Johnny-Five. It's no small task which I'm sure is why it hasn't happened yet.

[nofear87]

@dtex You are right, sorry! Sometime I'am a little bit impatient :-) Could it be a solution to use a python script on raspberry to read the encoders? Is there a way to pass python data or data in general to a "virtual" pin? Because I need some kind of communication between nodejs and python for motor soft start.

[ryangueraa]

nice

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs.

[joepuzzo]

I have made this PR for firmata.js firmata/firmata.js#261

[joepuzzo]

Seems nobody has checked my PR yet.. anyone know who maintains that package ?

[joepuzzo]

In order to use the encoder stuff ( until the people that own firmata.js merge my code ) you need to run this in any new project that wants to use encoder stuff

 npm i firmata-io@npm:@joepuzzo/firmata-io