Arduino based VDI!

[Koala]

Mission accomplished;-)! Thanks to all the guys who helped me (especially Daren). Im very proud of my new detector;-):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViOUPRj0L4E

Well done looks impressive. .

[Prospekteur]

der Fisherman: "How good is it with regards to depth? Both air and ground?"

With that small coil depth is not very impressive. But i build it for "Seperation". Seperation is best without VDI-Tones. The VDI is too slow for extreme situations. The best results made with the original modes of TGSL (Twotone mode "On" will slow down seperation too). Best results are in discrimination one tone mode. I tested a mod from this forum wich is very good for seperation and swing speed, but it dont works good with the twotone mod. For seperation and swing speed the mod from Geotech-Forum works best with the original circuit.

@Bernte_one: yes....the next project will be started soon....but for the first time ive been tired from the last project;-). It is a lot of work and time....But i think i cant wait too long to start the next mission;-)

[bernte_one]

i know this from first Projects i do in one rush
soldered parts all night Long, testing epoxi glues, enclosures, electronic parts and waste lot of Money

important is to make a concept of what you do next
make notices on paper, see what could work or what is waste of time and Money
it is not clever to do all alone, often you can by ready parts or someone else has a better idea
it is good to talk about before you begin the next practical work

if you start let us know

[scrungy_doolittle]

I've been playing with a nice display for the arduino. SainSmart 1602. Paralell port connection, uses A0 and resistor ladder for keypad. Really quite cheap on ebay. Got an arduino clone for 3.96 http://www.ebay.com/itm/311155383820 and http://www.ebay.com/itm/390798719366 Now I just have to do the analog part.

[gtdavid]

Hello all,
I have been playing also but I am using a stm32f1 micro and 2 displays.
I am going to controll my pots with the micro with digital pots.
I also would like to explore some sort of auto ground tracking also.
A bit hacked together atm but I will get there.
Thanks for the kick start by shareing your code.

[Koala]

Interesting work GTDavid

[gtdavid]

Are your VDI's depth specific ?
My vdi results change as the item been detected is moved up and down giving inconsistent vdi results..

[Koala]

Come on folk I interested in the answer on how these preform

In the main IDX thread someone did say the original VDI was good to between 50% to 75% of maximum depth

[gtdavid]

Also what is the maximum voltage observed on the u3 outputs for the idx?
And how are others getting a depth reading ?
Thanks.

[gtdavid]

I think your right at the 50% to 75% range as I have managed to stabilize my vdi at that point.
I also found that including negatives in the sample trigger also helped to improve the vdi stability.
eg.
if ((sensorValuex > 5 && sensorValuer > 5)||(sensorValuex < -5 && sensorValuer < -5)){
...
}

[Koala]

Even Deus users dig deep horseshoes so no detector is that good when towards the end of its depth. Makes sense as not much signal change to detect.

[ricalbertvig]

where I can find this version? you need to make

[Davor]

I'm considering Arduino platform for some experiments, but the original Arduino uses too much power for my taste. Raspberry is even worse.
I found Moteino clone to be much better in terms of power consumption and capabilities, but I have no experience with Arduino. Does anyone know of, or maybe uses some Arduino clones designed for low power? Preferably with wireless connection.
Thanks.

[Koala]

I'm considering Arduino platform for some experiments, but the original Arduino uses too much power for my taste. Raspberry is even worse.
I found Moteino clone to be much better in terms of power consumption and capabilities, but I have no experience with Arduino. Does anyone know of, or maybe uses some Arduino clones designed for low power? Preferably with wireless connection.
Thanks.

You might have already seen this


link1
link2

[Davor]

I've gone through similar links before, with mild disappointment. Playing with interrupts and sleep modes works in case you have little to do, say measure temperature, but not for real time data. This Moteino uses low power variants of processors (with "p" suffix) instead. So I can have a cake and eat it too. If I wanted a powerhog, I'd simply buy an used ...you know what.
10bits ADC at 15ksps is not much for, say, software defined detector, but may work well in motion mode after synchronous demodulators. Such detector could do VDI (Visual Discrimination Indicator) and audio output with VCO-like Audio Discrimination Indicator.
Too bad there is no proper ADC to match with Arduino and do it all in software.