Ultrasonic distance sensors on picocalc?

PicoCalc
1

I am reading through the picomite manual and see that picomite has built in support for ultrasonic distance sensors like the hc-sr04 (pictured). Does anyone have any ideas what would be the most elegant way to connect this to a picocalc?

I have an amusing idea for an Alien-themed personal radar app depending on if anyone has better ideas than me.

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2

just connect it to the GPIO on the side?

3

Rather than the ultrasonic sensor (which is quite crude and just gives you a range to whatever the biggest thing in front of it is), I’d go for one of the modern 24GHz radar human detector modules (like HLK-LD2410). They’re super cheap, and they give you lifesign detection at multiple ranges simultaneously. Exactly the sort of thing that you might want in an Aliens motion sensor prop :smiley:

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4

Go for one with i2C interface and can run from 4.4v (Vsys), then mount near the rear USB sockets and connect to the internal i2C2 (second channel) ?. Yes check out the lazer options too yet note the variation in range between models.

5

I wanted to, but I see that the sensor operates on 5V, and the manual says it requires a resistor divider to connect to a pico, and I’m afraid to damage the picocalc.

6

There are 3.3v models in the range, just pick one of them.

(Pico is actually 5v tolerant in practice, so it’s the lack of 5v power on the picocalc that is the real issue)

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