Scott Silvi
New Member
Hey all -
I'll preface this with I'm a software engineer by trade, and have been getting in to the maker / tinkerer / open hardware space the last few months.
Here's my scenario. I have a stationary object w/ a micro controller on it. I have a remote sensor in a mechanical device that is mobile. Occasionally the device will be connected to the main terminal via a hose. When this happens, I need to power the remote sensor & receive data back. There's currently a wire wrapped around this hose that provides grounding from terminal to device. I can add a secondary wire around the hose, but need a way to complete the circuit on both ends of the hose from my micro controller to my sensor. I could do this with any number of male / female connectors, but my ideal would be something that doesn't require user intervention to connect.
My remote sensor has a 2 (analog) or 3 (digital) wire output. I can either run ground / signal / power in my secondary wire directly to my sensor, or I could drop another micro controller in the remote device, connect my sensor, and just send voltage back up the wire (that makes sense in my head, but you might be calling me all kinds of idiot for what I just wrote!).
Without a lot of experience in conductive connectors, the best I've come up with is this conductive magnetic connector:
https://www.rapidonline.com/tools-equipment/magnetic-electrical-connectors-5-pairs-34-0915
The description of that product says its good for prototyping, etc, which may not be robust enough, and it also looks like it's only one wire, so I'm not sure about signal / ground / power. I've also been looking in to ring magnets, like this guy:
https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=RA22CS-S
So two questions, really:
1) Am I overlooking something that would be an easier solution than the path I've gone down, and
2) If i go with this magnetic connector, how do I supply signal / power / ground? Can I simply run power down the hose into a micro controller (like an Arduino for prototype), and use that board to provide signal / power / ground to my sensor? How then do I send voltage back up the wire? Do I need a second magnetic connector? Theoretically I could drop in like a bluetooth module, but I'd like to avoid the additional expense & hassle
[Edit to add]
I'm more than happy to do a ton of research on this, but I'm kind of struggling with knowing what to search for, so even a prod in the right direction would be tremendously helpful
[/Edit]
I'll preface this with I'm a software engineer by trade, and have been getting in to the maker / tinkerer / open hardware space the last few months.
Here's my scenario. I have a stationary object w/ a micro controller on it. I have a remote sensor in a mechanical device that is mobile. Occasionally the device will be connected to the main terminal via a hose. When this happens, I need to power the remote sensor & receive data back. There's currently a wire wrapped around this hose that provides grounding from terminal to device. I can add a secondary wire around the hose, but need a way to complete the circuit on both ends of the hose from my micro controller to my sensor. I could do this with any number of male / female connectors, but my ideal would be something that doesn't require user intervention to connect.
My remote sensor has a 2 (analog) or 3 (digital) wire output. I can either run ground / signal / power in my secondary wire directly to my sensor, or I could drop another micro controller in the remote device, connect my sensor, and just send voltage back up the wire (that makes sense in my head, but you might be calling me all kinds of idiot for what I just wrote!).
Without a lot of experience in conductive connectors, the best I've come up with is this conductive magnetic connector:
https://www.rapidonline.com/tools-equipment/magnetic-electrical-connectors-5-pairs-34-0915
The description of that product says its good for prototyping, etc, which may not be robust enough, and it also looks like it's only one wire, so I'm not sure about signal / ground / power. I've also been looking in to ring magnets, like this guy:
https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=RA22CS-S
So two questions, really:
1) Am I overlooking something that would be an easier solution than the path I've gone down, and
2) If i go with this magnetic connector, how do I supply signal / power / ground? Can I simply run power down the hose into a micro controller (like an Arduino for prototype), and use that board to provide signal / power / ground to my sensor? How then do I send voltage back up the wire? Do I need a second magnetic connector? Theoretically I could drop in like a bluetooth module, but I'd like to avoid the additional expense & hassle
[Edit to add]
I'm more than happy to do a ton of research on this, but I'm kind of struggling with knowing what to search for, so even a prod in the right direction would be tremendously helpful
[/Edit]
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