Question - what is best orientation for S49E Hall Effect sensor?

[dsteinschneider]

I'm about to build a sensor using the Honeywell S49E UA package instead of the Allegro1302. Does anyone know how the sensor is best positioned to detect the north side of the magnet approaching vertically down to it?

For the 1302 I oriented the flat side against the inside vertical wall in the center top position of the polycase enclosure. If there were no case but the sensor is where it is, you would see it standing on its pins with the flat side just meeting the north tip of the hard drive magnet (separation about 2mm).

It's actually playing very well now with the 2.0 calibration but I'm curious to see what the S49E chip is like. To swap them I just have to loosen two bolts and swap the enclosure.

I read the spec sheets, not the easiest to understand, it appears the sensor is positioned just under the middle of the beveled side.

[dsteinschneider]

Been reading more online:

From a Silicon Labs helpsheet for the TO-92 package, positive magnetic field is defined as North pole to the front
of the package (marking side).

Silicon_Labs_TO-92.jpg (10.33 KiB) Viewed 989 times

[pdf=an1018-si72xx-sensors.pdf]https:// ... .pdf[/pdf]

Based on this I'm realizing the sensor has north and south sides.

My setup with the A1302 required me to position the north side of my hard drive magnet down so it meets the sensor. Perhaps that's because I positioned the flat (non labeled side) toward the magnet?

[dsteinschneider]

One more comment - it's amazing what you can accomplish even when you have no idea what you're doing

[dsteinschneider]

Not sure how I missed this:

Rob wrote:
If you can use a DRV5056 and power it externally, you will get much better results than using ss49e. The DRV5056 will provide about 5 times the resolution which is very important small movements of a magnet.

From viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1016

The above thread mentions that overall the ss49e is preferred and that the R2 versions of eDRUMin units will work best.

[Rob]

That's an old thread. If you are using an ED10R2, then the S49E is a good choice and provides more than enough range. And just for completeness, if you are using an ED10R2, both those sensors can be powered from the ring pin so external power is not required.

Are you not getting enough range? Have you set the pedal setting properly according to the manual?

[dsteinschneider]

Hi Rob,

The response range I'm getting is more narrow than screenshots I've seen from other users using a variety of controllers (probably mostly Roland). I have compensated for it using the pedal's curve and adjustments in Superior Drummer.

Before the 2.0 beta cycle I improved the response range by adding a little box with a pair of TRS jacks and a third lead that plugged into the ED10 USB host port and supplied power to the ring of the jack the pedal plugged into. That stopped working after you delivered the big upgrade to the pedal. I removed the "power add-on" and setup the pedal from scratch and it's playing well but I'm curious if increasing the response range would make the hi-hat open and close more smoothly. I didn't know until now that Expression Pedal supplies tip (or ring) power and Hi-Hat Pedal does not. I think the change in Auto Sense during the 2.0 upgrades caused the above issue.

I'm glad I decided to revisit this because there were a lot of things I didn't understand during my first build.

Am I correct that the sensors have a north/south orientation? On my current setup the north tip of the magnet has to come down to right in front of the non-label side for full range. I've noticed user flaphead from Germany had his magnets much further from the sensor than mine.

I'm using a pair of magnets from a 3.5 inch harddrive - should I experiment with smaller magnets?

How much better is the sensing with the ED10R2? I upgraded to my ED10R1 from a pair of ED4's - I wouldn't mine a further upgrade.

EDIT 1 - I found the thread where you answer the questions about the difference in hi-hat pedal sensing between ED10R1 and ED10R2. It seems like I'm best off keeping the ED10R1 and switching to the SS49E and powering it correctly from the USB host port.

EDIT 2 - I forgot my main question

What is better:

1. The magnet and the sensor positioned vertically with tip of the magnet sliding down to the center of the sensor?
2. The magnet and the sensor positioned horizontal with the magnet coming down just above the sensor?
3. Or some other positioning?

Thanks

Doug

[dsteinschneider]

Something I've never done is bring the ED10 and laptop running the control app to my workbench and experiment with positioning. I will do that and report back what gives the widest response range.