gyroscope

[hypamat]

hi guys,
im loving this forum, and the help people are so willing to give! and i do try my best before having to come here for help, but i am stuck....again

iv egot a gyroscope sensor now, and i wrote a short program to show the x,y,and z axis... but all the numbers were weirdly jumping around almost uncontrollably, and i cant make head nor tale of whats going on with it... is it something wrong with what im doing? it just seems so sensitive to movement, whereas i would need it to just show me if its tilting or no?

i connected my sensor to the vcc, ground, sda and scl and the software said it was communicating properly, i even made the software sample it 10 times and then read out an average, but still no luck, the main idea of this project is a electronic spirit level, so it can be placed high in the air, but read on the ground.

are there any connections im missing here? or is there a example that someone could give me to play with please?

thanks,
matt

[Benj]

Hi Matt,

A gyroscope gives you rate of change rather than balance. An accelerometer gives you balance but this is also tainted with acceleration. An accelerometer can be combined with a gyroscope to use the rate of change to eliminate the acceleration portion of the accelerometer data giving you true reliable balance. Or visa versa if you only wanted acceleration.

This blog article has some further info to help get you started.
http://matrixtsl.com/blog/?p=82

[hypamat]

hello benj,
i see, this may cause me a problem, as when i try and place the accelerometer on the component window, it says i dont have a valid licence for this component! do i have to buy pro for this? im only a hobbyist, and cant afford to pay that unfortunately

matt