Combine two types of Circuits of a common purpose!!

Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
Hey Everybody!....i want to "combine" or "Mash up" a Design that I did with a design i found on the internet!.....It is a Distance meter by Ultrasound!!.....in my circuit i used PIC16F88 to control a LCD screen wich showed me the distance in %.....and it had two setpoints!....one low and one high!!.....if it reaches the low point it triggers a buzzer, and vicecersa.....i design it for to mantain a distance between a range!.....

Soo....what is my problem...i want to control a water tank in the back of my house....but i want to be able to see the display from a not too far distance....so i want to change the LCD display for a 3 digit 10mm Height 7 segment display!!!.....the buzzer system i want to change it for a much louder buzzer so i can hear it from inside the house, and for the "buzzer alarm" system also i want to add two light bulbs of 60W....one Red for Low level and one Green for high level.....so how do i make the power alarm system couple to the digital circuit??....optocouplers??....how??.....and how do i change the LCD for the 7 segment display??.....im using the LV-MaxSonar-EZ1 ultrasonic transducer!!......

in conclusion...i found on the internet two circuits diagrams that uses the 7 segment displays but no alarms...and they used different ultrasonic transducer.....im new at digital electronics so i want to mantain my original circuit diargram with my transducer but with the 7 segment display and the alarms system much more louder and with the indicatived lamps red and green!!

I appreciate so much what you can do!!!......

this are the internet links for the other two circuits!!

http://www.best-microcontroller-projects.com/pic-sonar.html

http://hobby_elec.piclist.com/e_pic6_6.htm
 

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Markd77

Joined Sep 7, 2009
2,806
There are many ways of doing this but my suggestions would be:
A ULN2803 darlington chip to energise mains relays for your 60W lights, and you could probably use extra channels to drive fairly high power 12V buzzers.
The 7 segment displays are tricky because you would need 10 output pins to drive 3 of them or 11 if you want decimal points. Either change to a 28 pin PIC or use another PIC for the display and connect them together with the USART. You can use more channels of the 2803 for driving comon cathode displays.
 

Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
Thanks Mark!....that is the problem i see by changing to 7 segments!!.....i tought like you say changing my pic also for the 16f877....so i could use the 7 segments.....the 2803 its a great idea!!.....now...should i connect in parallel each light bulb with its corresponding buzzer, right?
 

davebee

Joined Oct 22, 2008
540
It might make sense to use a separate chip to run the seven segment displays. There are many available, like the MAX7219, MAX7221, MC14499. Some LED driver chips have serial inputs, so you only need a couple of processor pins (but you have to write code to send your numbers serially). The chips manage the 7 segment LED current supply better than a microcontroller usually would.
 

Markd77

Joined Sep 7, 2009
2,806
I'd wire each output pin to 2 of the 2803 inputs and then the outputs form separate circuits so you can use different voltages for your relay and buzzer.
 

Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
davebee: Whoa, that seems a great idea, i will look up for those drivers to see i it would fit my circuit!..

Markd: so you are saying that i could work with low DC the buzzers and with 110VAC the lamps??

Alberto: Brother, thank you so much for that insight, i look for that RF driver here in Venezuela and i found 3!!..... Modulo XBee 1mW antena Chip 2.4GHzM; Modulo XBee 1mW incluye Antena 2.4GHz, Modulo XBee 2mW Series 2.5 Incluye Antena 2.4 GHz

here is the link: http://www.electronica.com.ve//vent...th=57&osCsid=a73b9dd13864ac89da4ceba33e400ce4

that is a great idea! if you want to i`ll send you my Circuit in the Proteus file so you can modified!! please explain it really detailed cause im new at microcontroller electronics!!.....so i can understand it very clear to see if i change the entire circuit to that mode or if its too hard and expensive here in venezuela to do it! Hope to hear from you!! Thanks!!
 

Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
Whoa!! Thanks Alberto!!....that is an awesome way to do the circuit!...the buzzer i still can connect it on the reciever side right?....what about the rest button??....should the Sender cicuit use a Reset buttom also?? in case it "hangs up"?
 

Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
Ok....i found the Xbee manual....now...i have a question!....it says that the xbee module uses a "socket base"....must i use that base??....or how can i connect it to my circuit pic?
 

Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
Hey Alberto! Happy New Year! all the Best for this new year!....

So if i find and can buy the Xbee i just use for each module 2 female 12 pin stripes and then i can put it directly to the circuit? obviously i should then aggregate to the circuit a 3.3 DCV supply for the xbee right?......

and for the Other RF module i ask you, yeah sure, i Could use that one at 500 ft!!; and its no problem, for monodirectional transmission...when the transmitter gets the signal from the Pic of the Level in the Tank by the Ultrasonic transducer the it transmits it to the other circuit, the receiver, and the reciever inputs the signal to its PIC so it can show the Level onto the LCD display....

Or; please tell me what is the Benefit of using Bidirectional transmission with the Xbee??....Thanks for everything!

Reinaldo Mendez.
 

Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
Hey Alberto and Everybody....

Well, finally i think i`m gonna go with the Laipac RF module....cause the Xbee here in Venezuela costs 65$ each and the Laipac TLP/RLP 434 costs 15$ the Pair.....so 130$ against 15$..... =s

anyways......now the next problem....lets do it step by step....im gonna Upload again the module that Alberto presented, obviously the Xbee must be replaced by the TLP/RLP 434....

1) I Dont understand the datasheet of the transmitter and reciever....they show there an application circuit using a encoder decoder driver HT12D....I want to Know if i can connect the PIC at the Transmitter part directly to the TLP 434 using the UART of the PIC?? or the TX of the PIC? or any other??

2) Well now, i want to know if at the Reciever part i can connect the RLP 434 directly to the PIC, where? how?

3) in the datasheets the mention that the TRLP/RLP 434 both have a Pin for the "antenna"....if the separation distance is no more than 20 meters wouldnt the RF module work??......or do you must built the antenna?? according to my calculations for 434 MHZ i should use a Loop Antenna of about 3.5cm by 1.5cm approximatly??....is that antenna on each side?

Thanks Everybody
 

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Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
There is a Argentinan Forum of Microcontrollers calles Todopic.com.ar somebody told me there, that Pin 2 of the Transmitter TLP 434 i should connect it to the Tx Pin USART of the PIC and in the reciever module Pin 2 RLP 434 i should connect it to the Rx USART at the reciver PIC......he also said..."Think you are transmitting through the Serial and that`s it"......

What do you think???
 

Thread Starter

Nara Shikamaru

Joined Nov 24, 2007
92
Im sorry for being such a pain in the A....... how could i work with the Xbee???; I would connect it the way you recommended; what about all the other pins??.....i`ve been reading the Xbee manual and it says that he sends "packets" as the OSI model.....so how would i tell my transmitter PIC to send the instruction to the other Xbee module; and then how the other PIC would deal with the Data Packet??
 
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