[Shannon Hicks]

ArnoudC, the second half of the Ultrasonic sensor example now has sample code for recording the data to a memory card and also puts the logger to sleep between readings.

[Shannon Hicks]

For anyone interested in putting their Mayfly to sleep between sensor readings, I recently posted this Sleeping Mayfly Logger example sketch:

Sleeping Mayfly logger example

[Shannon Hicks]

Different types of SDI12 sensors have different commands for taking measurements and retrieving data from the sensor, so the Arduino code has to be modified for whatever specific sensor you’re using. Plus if you’re using multiple sensors, they each have to be pre-programmed with a unique address, which you then call separately in the Arduino code.

What type of sensors are you using? And did you modify any the example code provided with the SDI12 library?

[Shannon Hicks]

Neil, these were all good observations about the 5v boost circuitry on the Mayfly. The NCP1402 has been obsoleted by the manufacturer, so I’m looking for alternative ways to generate 5v and possibly other voltages onboard the Mayfly.

[Shannon Hicks]

Yes, you could attach a 4.5v alkaline battery pack to the LIPO battery connection, but since you never know who might come along later and plug a solar panel into the SOLAR jack, it’s good practice to only connect LIPO batteries to that jack. That’s why I designed a separate 2-pin header (unpopulated) on the Mayfly that’s labeled “Ext 5V” so you can solder a little 2-pin header (preferably polarized) on there and connect an external battery pack that way. I like this particular connector/header combo: http://www.allelectronics.com/item/con-242/2-pin-connector-w/header-.10/1.html

[Shannon Hicks]

ChanCafun: that’s awesome, it looks really good. I assume you didn’t have any trouble figuring out the layout and spacing of the two 2×10 headers. I put them on a standard 0.1″ grid so it would be easy for people to produce their own accessory boards.

What SDI-12 sensors are you using? I don’t recognize those 6-pin connectors, but they look like they might be useful for times when the 4-pin Grove socket isn’t big enough.

[Shannon Hicks]

ArnoudC, I’m not sure which Maxbotix sensor you’re using, but on the models we usually use, it’s pin 5 on the sensor that gets connected to the Mayfly digital pin (pin 5 in my example code above, but you can make it whatever you want). I think on most of the Maxbotix sensors, Pin 6 and 7 are the power and ground pins, and pin 5 is the serial TTL or RS232 output pin that you can easily read with the Mayfly using the capture code above. Sensor pin2 is the PWM output and pin3 is the analog signal, but I prefer the serial output. The code above only works for capturing the sensor serial output. Check the datasheet for your sensor model to verify that these are the correct pin numbers.

You can connect the sensor power and ground pins to any power or ground pin on the Mayfly or any other Arduino board. The Maxbotix sensors draw just a few milliamps of current so I usually just connect the sensor power pin to an available Mayfly digital pin and switch it high or low to control the on-off cycle of the sensor, which is handy for situations where the logger is programmed for sleeping between measurements. However, I have found that some of the sensors don’t like having their power pin connected to the switched 3.3v bus on the Mayfly. So if you’re running the Mayfly without sleeping, just connect the sensor power to the 3.3v constant bus. If you’re sleeping the Mayfly between sensor readings and you want to shut off power to the sensor, then use a digital pin to provide the power.

[Shannon Hicks]

Marion, if you haven’t already found it, there’s a repository on the EnviroDIY GitHub page where you can download all of the sample sketches that are currently listed on EnviroDIY, as well as some sample sketches for some workshops we did that use Grove sensors. I’m working hard to post some additional code online this week:

https://github.com/EnviroDIY/EnviroDIY_Mayfly_Logger

[Shannon Hicks]

This topic got answered in another thread, but I’ll post the answer here since it’s important:

After extensive testing with 8 of the latest versions of the IDE, I can confirm that the EnviroDIY board configuration file that is currently posted on Github will work with Arduino IDE versions 1.6.5 through 1.6.12.

There was an update done to the IDE starting with version 1.6.11 that caused an incompatibility with the Mayfly configuration file on GitHub. But I just updated that config file and tested it with version 1.6.11 and 1.6.12, and everything is working fine now. Thanks for pointing out the issue, Paul and Marion.

[Shannon Hicks]

After extensive testing with 8 of the latest versions of the IDE, I can confirm that the EnviroDIY board configuration file that is currently posted on Github will work with Arduino IDE versions 1.6.5 through 1.6.12.

There was an update done to the IDE starting with version 1.6.11 that caused an incompatibility with the Mayfly configuration file on GitHub. But I just updated that config file and tested it with version 1.6.11 and 1.6.12, and everything is working fine now. Thanks for pointing out the issue, Paul and Marion.

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