Me line follower array code

#1

I have a Me line follower array and want to learn to use it on my Auriga
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I am happy to start in Ardunio then once I figure it out I will make my own extension for it for my kids to use in Mblok5.

I open the sample program in Ardunio IDE and selected Mega2560 and correct port. I have the Me Line Follower Array plugged in to port 10 so I looked up the pin numbers for that port and they are A11 and A6 so I changed the DataPin from 2 to 11 then also tried 6. When I compile and upload it is successful and when I open a serial monitor it displays as expected but the reading is always 0 no matter whether it is over a black line or not. The blue lights on sensor do change depending upon line. What I am doing wrong??
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#2

I’ve never used this module, so caveat emptor, but have you tried adjusting the sensitivity pots?

#3

I know the reading are changing because the lights change.

From what I can sort of tell from looking at the sample Ardunio code is it works something like a shift register and each of the lights/sensors will either be a 1 or a 0 and the pots are just to adjust how refective light is needed before they flick the schmitt trigger.

I think my problem is with the declaration of the DataPin not matching the connection to the sensor

#4

Ah ok, sorry, when you said the lights do not change in your first post, I assumed it was a sensitivity issue.
Port 6-10 uses analog pins as you correctly stated. For port 10, their designation is A6 and A11.
Have you tried const int DataPin = A6; or const int DataPin = A11; ?

#5

I did say in my original post that the lights do change.

Using “const int DataPin = A11;” fixed the problem. I am just not used to the abstratc way that Ardunio does things. I am used to using CPU naming of pins but Ardunio doesn’t instead it maps different names to them see https://www.arduino.cc/en/Hacking/PinMapping2560

Thanks for your help :grinning:

#6

Sorry- I Misread your original post! Glad you got it sorted though. I too find the Arduino way of working quite unusual - I spent decades developing industrial embedded software on a number of processor platforms, and Arduino still taking a bit of getting used to.

#7

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