This impressive-looking horn is actually an ultrasonic sensor, ready for panel mount use. Inside is a module that uses high-frequency signals to determine the distance to a surface, and the horn helps guide the waveform so it can reach farther without spreading too wide. It's elegant looking and is more durable than the 'raw' ultrasonics we sell a lot of, so it would do well in a garage, robot or installation where you want a durable, dust and weather-resistant design. It has a range of 28 cm to 750 cm with a read resolution of 1mm (precision isn't specified, but its probably about 5-10 mm). As you get to the longer distances, its important to take into account the spread of the cone, which is about 40 degrees. We weren't able to get a reading of 750cm, but we did reach 600 cm (in our small apartment).
This sensor has UART output, so it can connect to a microcontroller or microcomputer with a TTL serial port. You can also connect it to a computer using a USB-to-serial adapter and read data from the operating system's COM or serial port device.
It comes with a 2mm pitch connector you can cut off or re-purpose. To use, simply connect the red wire #1 to 3 or 5V, black wire #2 to ground, skip #3 and connect #4 to your serial input pin and read the data in at 9600 baud. A blue LED on the back will blink with each reading. Check out our Arduino and Python example code to get readings in a jiffy!
This sensor has a 'blind' zone distance of 0 to 28 cm, that means it can't accurately tell when something is less than that distance away. it's best used when you know that the object you're sensing is at least 30 cm from the sensor!
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