Microcontroller fun

Getting my microcontroller to detect laser hits

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• microcontroller
• laser
• LED

[lXlNismo11lXl]

Can It Detect Any Other Color Laser. Also, Can It Detect LED Light?

[ModManKev]

This can detect any visible laser or LED, because the sensor it's using is a photoresister. So the resistance changes across it with different light intensities.

[NaagLugYaajUaSi]

Are you measuring the light intensive or what?

[ModManKev]

The laser is hitting a photoresister that is in a voltage divider circuit. The resistance changes with the intensity of light. That variable voltage is then sent into my microcontroller through an Analog to Digital converter and in my program I could pick the threshold that I thought worked.

[massivewangman]

what did you use to receive the light signal?

[ModManKev]

I'm using a photo-resistor in a voltage dividing circuit. That adjustable voltage is then sent to one of the A/D pins on my microcontroller and I can use the value in software to record hits.

[MysteryGameMan]

Can this turn on women too?..

[rroge5]

this can be done also with cheap easy to buy components btw.

[djtonyxxx5]

the best thing is to use red ultra bright led. so when you hit them with laser they produce a voltage. amplify it with an lm741 read the array with pic. so you can reveal the detection and also what led you have hit. made the scan in multiplex (with an analog switch) and you can have a "display" where you write pointing the laser on the leds. this is fun. i'm trying to do this for a rotating display. this would be even more interesting.

[moeburn]

@rroge5 I was gonna say... you don't need a programmable microcontroller to do THAT, just a phototransistor (not resistor), and a basic adder circuit.

[pebopablo123]

what the heck is a microcontroller????

[lycosa2001]

@silverpizza100 That was a pretty shitty comment. Buying something from the store doesn't teach you anything. Anyone that ever started learning about microcontrollers starts by blinking LED's. It's a cheap way to learn how to work with microcontrollers, but you wouldn't know that. There's an education gained by 'blinking lights', but then again, you probably wouldn't understand that either. Being a douche for no apparent reason? Ya, you've got that down perfectly.

[leglessinoz]

@KingCyrix Quite a few lasers produce visible beams. It looked like it might be a laser line maker which makes a line of light on a surface rather than a dot.

[leglessinoz]

@silverpizza100 Just because something is available in a shop doesn't mean someone might not want to build his own version. I've built many things that are commercially availbe because I wanted to understand how they work. A store bought one is probably not customisable. His is. Store bought items don't always fill everyone's needs. For some people it's all about the learning. For you it's obviously all about the criticism.

[Soulrider2012]

@silverpizza100 Ignorant people always criticize what they don't understand. Thanks for proving that thought.

[silverpizza100]

biggest waste of time and money that I have ever seen. What is this? Some school project? WOW you build a big everything that has already been built and sold in a store for half the price. Blinking lights, Great PAL>

[KingCyrix]

First of all Kudos! I just wanted to \know if ambient lighting would trip the photoresistor circuit? Are all photoresistors the same sensitivity perhaps the circuit can tell intensity from the ADC? Where did you get the emitter your using? I notice the beam of light is visable. Is this a special part you picked up? Questions questions!