In the future, I want to add 9 rangefinders and it would be nice to have a single compact board vs three of the current standard boards.
How do people connect up to 9 rangefinders now?
Having 9 devices on I2C is not common, so you can daisy chain, like you did or DIY, like I did , or PCBWAY if you prefer something clean but getting messy once you connect the cables
Aah so I can just combine all the pin 2 wires and then end at a single connector. So that board does nothing internally expect have traces?
How much did you pay for the mini? What is the range you get with it?
Nice job that you did there.
I am using the TF-Luna paid AUD 42 for it. Seems the mini is double the price here.
https://amzn.to/3CRhFBp
I don’t know enough to say it is good or bad but seems to work, just seems to be a very tight beam. It looks like it works fine at 2m as it as been set.
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Hello,
So that board does nothing internally expect have traces? Yep
How much did you pay for the mini? About 40$ ?
What is the range you get with it? 12M Indoor and 6M outdoor
Nice job that you did there. Thanks
I am liking that 6m. I will see if it is maybe cheaper on Aliexpress. 6m is so much safer I would say. Thank you again for replying. Very glad you wrote that blog. I will study it a bit more the next week to make sure I understand everything.
Seems on Aliexpress it is as much as what I paid for my sensor on Amazon. In the future I might move this sensor then to the back and use the mini-s for the rest.
Which sensor would you use if you had to buy one facing down?
I see a 360 degree Lidar is now around USD 320.
So if you paid USD 40 for each sensor that is also $320. Did you go the route of the rangefinders because it was cheaper than 360 degree lidar a year ago? If you had to do this now, which direction would you go?
Depends on the use case , if you want a full 360 deg coverage and weight and power and crash survivability is not an issue, then you can certainly go with rotating lidars.
What is the total weight of your avoidance system now?
Looks like the lidar is 200g. That is a bit much
Original POC was 60gr , the TFMINI was about 150, but I could have built it 30-40gr lighter
I guess like most things pros and cons of each method.
I was thinking how I would attach the 360 lidar. It will have to be very high up to get over the drone gps so when ever the drone flips on landing it will get damaged. I won’t be able to attach it the bottom because the legs would interfere.
The way you did it I can place it on the bottom and just position it so that they don’t see the legs but it isn’t so safe but it is half the weight.
You can mount it on top with a protective cover held using long threaded hex spacers