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Digital Hall Sensor Wireling Python Tutorial

This Wireling lets you measure the intensity of magnetic fields using the TCS40DLR Discrete Hall Switch.

Technical Details

Toshiba TCS40 Hall Switch Specs (Digital)

  • Omnipolar (dual detection) 
  • Open-Drain 
  • ßON = 3.4mT
  • ßOFF = 2.0mT
  • Operating Voltage: 2.3V - 5.5V
  • Operating Current: 1.0mA

Power Requirements

  • Voltage: 3.0V - 5.5V 

Pins Used

  • A5/SCL - I²C Serial Clock line
  • A4/SDA - I²C Serial Data line

Dimensions

  • 10mm x 10mm (.394 inches x .394 inches)
  • Max Height (from the lower bottom of Wireling to upper top Wireling Connector): 4.60mm (0.18 inches)
  • Weight: 1 gram (.04 ounces)

Materials

Hardware

Required Software

  • Python 3 (Python 2 is not supported!)
  • All Python packages mentioned in the Pi Hat setup tutorial (tinycircuits-wireling, Adafruit-Blinka, adafruit-circuitpython-ads1x15, and adafruit-circuitpython-busdevice)

Hardware Assembly

Plug your Wireling into the port you plan on using! The default in the included program is port 0.

If you want to use a different port, you just need to change the port value in the program mentioned later.

Programming

The Wireling Python package includes helper functions that make I/O programming, like for a digital hall switch, easy. There is even an I/O example for reading the digital signal in the Wireling package that we will use here:

wireling_input-example.py 
# Wireling Simple Input Example
# This example can be used with the Large Button, Small button, Switch, 
# and Digital Hall Sensor Wirelings to read the digital state

import time
import tinycircuits_wireling

wireling = tinycircuits_wireling.Wireling()

while(True):
    wireling.digitalRead(0) # Insert 0-3 correlating with the port label on pi hat
    time.sleep(0.2)

Run Program

Navigate in the terminal to the Wireling examples folder and type:

python3 wireling_input-example.py

After you run the program, you should see a 1 printed to signify a HIGH state every 0.2 seconds. Once you hold a magnet close enough to the Digital Hall Wireling, you should see a 0 printing every 0.2 seconds as it is still pressed to signify a LOW state.

Downloads

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