Hall effect sensor & Xcontroller

Has anyone wired hall effect limit switches to an x-controller? since they need power (+5v), this newb was wondering how you wired it. I believe the probe pin is +5v but wasnt sure if that was optimal.

Thanks!

The maximum current from any Arduino I/O pin is 40ma. There is a device maximum as well which means that you cannot pull 40ma out of all I/O pins.

The short answer is don’t use the Arduino pins to power your device.

Not to be snarky but I did use search and found many threads on the sensors but didn’t see any regarding specific wiring to the xcontroller.

The closest I found was in this thread. Where to wire an auto spindle control on X-Controller

Thanks again for your volume of help.

Thanks Larry. I was basing the thinking off of the way this relay is wired.

The IoT relay doesn’t draw much power from the control signal. The signal there is just a control signal. The IoT relay has an internal transistor that raises the control signal up to a level to trigger the relay.

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I switched out my switches with hall effect limit switches:

Thanks Erik. I actually bought them after reading your read. Just unsure as to how to wire them to the scarce vs the original arduino.

Make sure you get the correct one.
There are 3 types
One that is what you want that is like a switch.
One that latches and you have to use a reverse magnet pole to switch it back.
The last is a sensor where it can be used as a detector and can sense weak or strong fields. It produces a linear voltage proportional to the magnetic field

So make sure they are non latching, threshold types.
:slight_smile:

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Thanks Stephen. I had a conversation with the seller who knew what my intended use and machine were, so im pretty sure i have the correct sensors and accompanying magnets.

Look at the datasheets. :wink:

I have a solution and wanted to share it with anyone else who decides to use these sensors with the X-Controller which utilizes a single consolidated controller board and has no actual Arduino board, per say.

For sake on conversation, the maker of the sensors I purchased discussed this directly with Inventables who confirmed that it is safe to use Pin 2 on J3 for a 5 Volt source as outlined below.

On the main board there are a group of six pins organized in a 2x3 fashion. Its Jumper 3 (J3) Pin 2 is a 5 volt source. You should be able to use that pin to provide power for all the sensors. As you look at the board with the Motor connections facing you. J3 is at the One o’clock position near the Stepper Motor chart. Pin 2 is the lowest right pin. There should be a 2 next to it and the J3 is at the bottom of the grouping.

I have been using Kevin Patterson’s hall effect limit switches for quite some time now with the X-Controller. I had a pile of USB phone chargers laying around, so I just soldered a barrel DC connector on one of them to get 5V DC.

Your solution sounds interesting. Freeing up a power socket and using one less power supply did not harm anyone either :slight_smile:

I’m away from home now, but I can see what you were describing in this picture from Inventables’ instructions:

From a practical/cabling point of view, what did you use for ground?

I’m responding to myself :slight_smile: . According to the X-Controller’s PCB schematic

…pin 2 is indeed 5V and pin 6 is ground.

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Hey Elias! It’s definitely nicer to have one less power supply in the mix. I used the ground points on the xcontroller connector that the original limit switches would have used.

Ken,
Are you combining the ground and signal wire together ( shrink wrapped in Black) and connecting that to the X controller ground?

This connector is the I2C interface.
Just a FYI only