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Please help:

I am building a photogate. I was looking for help in building a circuit for the Raspberry Pi 2.

A little background:

I am still a highschool grade 12 student! and I have a basic understanding of circuits as we have not even started electronics and so that is why, I absolutely have no idea how phototransistors change current and so that is why, I have no idea what would the answer be. Also, I am semi sure of how multiple branches affect the current and voltage and resistance. Sorry! I am building this for my Physics IA. Going a little stronger. I will appreciate help or the circuit but if possible, I will appreciate any form of knowledge I can gain.

Design objectives:

What I am looking to build is a simple circuit which has one lead going to input of the GPIO board. One lead to ground and one lead to either 3.3V or 5.0V on the GPIO board, I have no idea how to select which voltage to use. The circuit would have a ir phototransistor that when dark would give an input in raspberry pi GPIO input of 2.0 volt-3.3 volt and 0.0v-1.0 volts when light. I can use any resistor. I want to build the most basic circuit that can give me these inputs when dark and when light. Thanks A lot. Please ask for clarification if needed.

PS. this is a question to build a circuit whereas the other question is about input values from a pre-existing circuit.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Possible duplicate of Circuit changes, what is the input high and low given when the circuit is lit and not! \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 7:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ Also, all Raspberry Pi inputs are 3.3V only. Never connect 5V to a GPIO directly. \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 7:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ This is actually a new question, that circuit did not work and so i am trying to build a newer circuit. This time, i will have two circuits operating, one with the ir led that i can build myself as it is super simple and one with the ir phototransistor that i need help with. The phototransistor when lit will give an input of 0.0-1.0 volts at the GPIO input and 2.0-3.3 when dark. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sarthak Garg
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 7:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ The 3.3V vs 5.0V is the source, not the input. And i wouldn't connect a 5.0V to input. What I mean is which one should I use as the source for my circuit. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sarthak Garg
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 7:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ That circuit is a standard phototransistor setup. There is no reason it shouldn't work unless you didn't wire it right or the schematic you provided was wrong. \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 7:26

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Basic setup. Two "circuits". The LED can be powered by a battery or from the RPi's 5V. R-LED should be calculated for the LED you use.

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

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    \$\begingroup\$ ahh, thank you so much! I assure you, i won't simply use the circuit but learn from it :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Sarthak Garg
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 8:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ I wonder if Q1 can pull the pin low enough. You may need another transistor (a normal one) to amplify the signal. Check with a voltmeter how low it goes. \$\endgroup\$
    – Paulo Soares
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 9:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ If Q1 can't pull low enough, simply increase R2 (perhaps 100 kilohms) \$\endgroup\$
    – user16324
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 10:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ @PauloSoares 3.3V and 10kΩ means just 0.3mA. Any common phototransistor can do that easy enough, enough to pull the GPIO node to mostly ground. \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 10:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ That's electronic schematic convention. Typically I would just use the ground symbol, but in this case I explicitly named it as connecting to the RPI ground. It's redundant. Just connect the emitter to ground. \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 21:30

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