Reply To: Sleep code not working with Maxbotix 7389

The issue with getting those 300mm values back from the sonar is an issue with the sensor/installati

The issue with getting those 300mm values back from the sonar is an issue with the sensor/installation itself not the code. The sonar will report its blanking distance (300 or 500 depending on the model) anytime something is too close to it to get a real reading. Usually the thing too close to the sonar is condensation on the sonar itself. You’re probably seeing it a lot more in the winter because of the difference in temperature between the sonar/Mayfly box and the outside air. Having the sonar in a pipe over the water might make it even worse. It’s also possible that the sensor is just dirty, but if it’s alternating between blanking distance and good values, it’s probably condensation. In most of our newer code I re-read the sonar up to 25 times if it’s reporting 300/500, but if there’s really too much condensation on the sensor there’s nothing any code can do to change it. I’m pretty sure the “self-cleaning” feature available on some of the MaxBotix models is a heater to prevent condensation.

I also strongly recommend switching from the Arduino IDE to PlatformIO. Library management is much easier in PlatformIO – you can keep set up different groups of libraries for each program and not worry about an old sketch breaking because you updated the libraries to use in a different sketch. I know VSCode and PlatformIO can seem a lot scarier up-front, but I promise it’s easier to use in the long run!