The IR Sensor boards finally arrived! We are busy soldering components, writing new Arduino sketches to show off the capabilities of these boards, and preparing for full blown production. New videos are in the works, for when we get back from vacation. Each board supports up to 6 sensors (Reflex or Transmissive), and are ideal for block detection, crossing light / gate sensors, scale speedometers, and more.
The main difference between reflex couplers and transmissive sensors is in the relative position of the transmitter and detector with respect to each other. In the case of the transmissive sensor, the receiver is opposite the transmitter in the same optical axis, giving a direct light coupling between the two. In the case of the reflex sensor, the detector is positioned next to the transmitter, avoiding a direct light coupling.
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Using a 6′ piece of cat-5 cable, we connected the blue to the Anode of the IR LED, and blue/white to the Cathode. We connected green to the Collector of the photo transistor, and green/white to the Emitter.
I suggest a bit of hot glue once you solder and heat shrink the leads to the TCRT5000 IR pair.
On the board end, blue goes to LED+, green to PT+, and the blue/white and green/white to GND.
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