Middlesex County, Ontario | The SR04 sensors are cheap sensors made in cheap Chinese factories. You can buy one and have it shipped to your house for $0.74 including shipping.
There are better and worse manufacturers, but you don’t get any manufacturer info and they are all just the same rebranded stuff.
You can only manage as good as you can measure. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot at the start of the race by choosing a poor sensor.
They are fine for prototyping and messing around when programming, but don’t expect to get them to work for real.
In the thread you linked the poster settled for a MaxBotix Ultrasonic sensors MB 7589. It retails for $149.95. I was pretty close on my ~$150 estimate!
https://www.maxbotix.com/Ultrasonic_Sensors.htm
I started prototyping an automatic boom height controller last year. I got as far as gathering some field test data and trialing a control system.
I put an Arduino, USB battery bank, Bluetooth module, and SR04 in a takeout container and zip tied it to the boom.
I had an Arduino, LCD, and Bluetooth module in the tractor.
The sensor took constant height readings. The cab Arduino processed that data and printed it to the LCD. It took some data smoothing to get the sensor readings to anything remotely useable. The LCD displayed live reading, smoothed reading, and whether the boom should move up or down. Things like set point and hysteresis were adjustable.
I don’t think it’s especially hard to create a functional self leveling system that is Arduino based and uses your existing solenoid valves. I would call it an intermediate to advanced Arduino project. Personally my challenges would be more hardware and wiring related than programming related.
I think you could make a working system with the SR04 sensors. I don’t think it would work very well or for very long.
I would use the SR04 sensors to test and prototype, but use something better once a semi functional prototype is complete.
I don’t know how to say this without sounding condescending. If you search Arduino forums you will get the opinions of everything from 12 year olds to PHDs. They might rave about the SR04 sensors, but they might be 12 and it might be the only cool sensor that came in their Arduino kit. You have to sort through it a little bit. For what it’s worth, I have a degree in Mechatronic Systems Engineering. It’s a branch of Engineering between Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. I have extensive robotics, control systems, and programming experience. There’s are lots of people like me on Arduino forums, but there are also lots of people with strong opinions and no experience.
Edited by WildBuckwheat 6/7/2019 18:23
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DIY auto boom height control
