Expected input to z_probe_in and getting status?
-
I have a circuit hooked up to z_probe_in which is supplying short (~10ms) bursts of 2.7-2.8 volts when a piezo detects movement. So far, just by hitting the bed and sending M119 (attempting to be simultaneous), I haven't been able to prove this is working (meaning, z probe always reports "not stopped"). A piezo can't make a continuous signal like holding a normal endstop switch closed, so testing is proving frustrating.
Is this voltage adequate, is there a minimum time for a signal to be considered "on," and is there a better way I can test this (e.g., is there some command that will allow z probe status to be pushed to the console automatically when it changes)?
-
Making these changes to config.g helps – I can now get it to sometimes show the endstop is hit:
M558 P5 X0 Y0 Z0 ; Z probe is an IR probe and is not used for homing any axes
G31 X0 Y0 Z0 P50 ; Set the zprobe height and threshold (P500 was default)What does P50 in the second line actually mean? Is that milliseconds, some relative value from 0 to 254, or what?
-
My understanding when used with digital probe mode it's a debounce, that is a mechanism to smooth out a switch which might make several connects and disconnects when pressed, to give a nice sharp digital change in state. So it's the debounce time in milliseconds.
I'm using it with Piezo hotend probe to reduce false triggers. I've got mine set to 1ms.
-
Doesn't setting it to 1ms effectively remove the debounce function? The signals I am seeing from the piezos have a period of about 10ms.
-
It's not debounce time in ms but it does define the debounce time, with lower values triggering faster. From memory, I think a value of 100 or lower should give zero debounce.
-
Thanks dc42. Is it possible to provide a formula or table that translates the setting to a ms delay?
Given the length of the signals I see coming from the piezos (~10ms signal, gap, and then sometimes another 10ms bounce – so the whole process is generally over in less than 50ms), and the fact that I would say it's impossible for the bed leveling procedure to hit the bed, raise, move, and hit the bed in another spot, in less than a few hundred milliseconds, setting the G31 P value to something that means, say 100ms, would seem to be a safe, effective, choice.
-
The G31 P value is intended to set the threshold for analog sensors. The fact that it can be used to debounce noisy digital Z probe inputs is a by-product of the filtering that is applied. A Z probe reading is taken every 2ms and that is passed into an averaging filter. The filer takes the average of the last 8 readings. For an analog Z probe, the reading is whatever the probe returns. For a digital Z probe, it is 1000 when the probe output is active and 0 when it isn't.
The upshot of this is:
- Events shorter than 2ms in duration may not be seen
- If you use a digital sensor and you set the G31 P parameter to 125 or less, then a single active reading from the probe is sufficient to cause a trigger
- If you set the threshold between 126 and 250 then you need two readings out of the last 8 to be active to cause a trigger
The 2ms interval between readings is a hangover from the old code that used the Arduino core, and I'll probably change it to 1ms before the 1.18 release.
HTH David
