IR Sensor TCRT5000 (RPM Counting)

WIP: Work in progress: I'm rebuilding the demo setup. I'm documenting while I'm rebuilding. Revisit this page by the end of March 2023 for a complete document

Wiring plan.

Sensor seen from the back. Electrical pins at the downside. Pins from left to right. The cable colors are arbitrary, pick them as you like. 30cm long female-female cables work out well. The cables get connected directly with the Raspberry pins, no resistors are required.

Pin Meaning Color Comment
1 A0   Not being used
2 D0 Red  
3 GND Brown  
4 VCC Orange  

Placing and Tuning

The sensor has to be placed at about 5mm distance from the flywheel. The flywheel needs a black mark to make the IR sensor to trigger an event.

The TCRT5000 has a potentiometer at the rear side. It allows to calibrate the sensitivity. Turning this potentiometer up to a half turn to the left or right should trigger the events. The TCRT5000 sensor has a LED at the rear side. This sensor will blick with every event when if it is adjusted correctly.