Home Chipkit Chipkit Uno and ML8511 sensor example

Chipkit Uno and ML8511 sensor example

by shedboy71

The ML8511 measures the amount of ultra violet rays contained in sunlight, and it is used for the equipment which displays the suntan by a ultra violet rays, the guidance for UV care of skin, etc

The sensor detects 280-390nm light most effectively. This is categorized as part of the UVB (burning rays) spectrum and most of the UVA (tanning rays) spectrum. It outputs a analog voltage that is linearly related to the measured UV intensity (mW/cm2). If your microcontroller can do an analog to digital signal conversion then you can detect the level of UV!

 

Connection

A simple connection this one using the module above

 Chipkit Uno  ML8511 module
 3v3  3V3
 Gnd  GND
 A0  OUT

 

Code

No external libraries required for this one

[codesyntax lang=”cpp”]

int UVsensorIn = A0; //Output from the sensor
 
void setup()
{
  pinMode(UVsensorIn, INPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600); //open serial port, set the baud rate to 9600 bps
}
 
void loop()
{
  int uvLevel = averageAnalogRead(UVsensorIn);
 
  float outputVoltage = 3.3 * uvLevel/1023;
  float uvIntensity = mapfloat(outputVoltage, 0.99, 2.9, 0.0, 15.0);
 
  Serial.print(" UV Intensity: ");
  Serial.print(uvIntensity);
  Serial.print(" mW/cm^2"); 
  Serial.println(); 
  delay(200);
}
 
//Takes an average of readings on a given pin
//Returns the average
int averageAnalogRead(int pinToRead)
{
  byte numberOfReadings = 8;
  unsigned int runningValue = 0; 
 
  for(int x = 0 ; x < numberOfReadings ; x++)
    runningValue += analogRead(pinToRead);
  runningValue /= numberOfReadings;
 
  return(runningValue);  
 
}
 

float mapfloat(float x, float in_min, float in_max, float out_min, float out_max)
{
  return (x - in_min) * (out_max - out_min) / (in_max - in_min) + out_min;
}

[/codesyntax]

Output

Open the serial monitor and you should see something which looks like this

UV Intensity: 10.72 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 10.83 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 10.97 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 11.05 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 11.10 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 11.21 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 11.17 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 11.22 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 11.27 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 11.28 mW/cm^2
UV Intensity: 11.29 mW/cm^2

 

Links
ML8511 UVB UV Rays Sensor Breakout Test Module Detector

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