TIR sensor EV3 help

I’ve been trying to use the TIR sensor with EV3 for the last year and I still can’t get it working. I believe it does not work in LabVIEW with EV3 as it isn’t compatible. What software languages does the TIR sensor work with for EV3? I need to read the ambient temperature. Is there any way I can interface the EV3 LabVIEW software with another software that the TIR sensor works in? I have a large program already working in labview and I need to get the TIR sensor working so I can run the program on my EV3 robots. When I try the TIR sensor block provided from the github site provided before all readings are read as -273.16 so 0K. When I plug the sensor into a multiplexer and use that with the EV3 labview TIR block it gives off correct readings. However, for the program I cannot use a multiplexer.

So could you please assist with the following questions:

  1. What software is the TIR sensor compatible with for EV3?
  2. Which of these software can be interfaced with LabVIEW for EV3?
    Regards,
    Patrick

Info on that can be found here:
https://www.dexterindustries.com/manual/thermal-infrared-sensor/

Thanks for your reply. However I have already read that information and it is for NXT and not EV3.

EV3 Code and Repo is here. I don’t think that a multiplexer will work with the TIR, we haven’t written any software to support it.

Thank you for the respose. However, when I try running the EV3 code on the EV3 Labview software the temperature is still saying -273.16. Does this mean the sensor is defective?

On the readme.txt in that link it lists the supported and unsupported sensors:
Supported Sensors

Sensors that are supported in EV3.
dIMU
dLight
dGPS
dSolar
dCompass
dTIR (Thermal Infrared Sensor)
dSwitch

Unsupported Sensors
Sensors that will not be supported because of technical issues with EV3.
NXTBee
NXTChuck

However, the TIR doesn’t appear in supported or unsupported?
If I can’t get the TIR sensor working with LabView what other languages support it? Will it work in Python or RobotC or any other languages with EV3 (not NXT)? If it does work with these or other languages can they Interface with the EV3 Labview software? Thanks

Sorry for the confusion around this. The dTIR is supported in the EV3 programming language, but not necessarily for labview in EV3. We haven’t written any code for that for the dTIR. Again, I’m really sorry for the confusion here.

Ok so the sensor won’t work if I program it in LabView but it will if i program it in another language. So the sensor will work on an EV3 brick. What other languages can I program it in? I just assumed that the EV3 repository code was only for labview but it is actually for all languages or a specific software? What language/software can I code the TIR sensor to work with my EV3 bricks?

Hey pwatts, it can definitely be programmed in Labview, we just don’t have any modules for it. You will have to code in the individual I2C commands for the sensor. If that’s not technically feasible, you’re best bet is to use the EV3 Language code.

Do you know where I can find information on how to code these individual I2C commands for the sensor? This wouldn’t involve any dismantling of the sensor or tampering with it right? I would have to write the I2C commands and add it to Labview and then run the program as normal with Labview and the sensor should work? I think I like this solution the most since I have to integrate the sensor with an existing code that is already very large and working in Labview.

@pwatts, you will definitely not need to disassemble or tamper with the sensor.

There is some register information for the three registers on the TIR here. You just need to write the Labview code to access the registers..

If you’re familiar with C code at all, it might be easier though to look at the older NXC code here, see how the registers are accessed, and use this as a basis for writing the new code.

I hope this helps!

Hi @pwatts, I’m sitting with the same problem. I bought the Dexter TIR sensor for a school project with EV3 / Labview, but no readings come through. Unfortunately, I’m not a programmer. Have you made any progress with integrating the sensor?

@michael3 and @pwatts, we are french students. We have tryied the dexter.ev3b block in 1.9 version, and we have to deal with the same problem. Did you reach to manage the communication between the Dexter sensor TIR and the ev3 brick ? Thx