Ultrasonic Ranger malfunction

I purchased a GoPiGo2 starter kit a few months ago which came with an ultrasonic sonar. After assembling it I noticed the sonar reading in very strange values that didn’t make since in relation to what it should have been sensing. It could not recognize when a large sheet of paper was inches from it and would output the distance 681 semi-regularly.

Fortunately I had also purchased a GrovePi IoT kit along with my GoPiGo2 starter kit and had an extra sonar. So I replaced the original sonar and immediately noticed a difference. The new sonar read in distances properly and operated completely as expected. After less than 2 months very infrequent use the “newer” sonar has begun to malfunction. Sometimes it performs normally other times it reads in very large distances while moving towards a “target” or will be stationary reading in the same distance and all of sudden read 0.

This is my 2nd sonar and I’m very disappointed that 2 of these sensors have failed in the same manner within months (one arrived “broken”). I have changed the Grove cables hoping the issue might lie there, but it did fix anything. I have been trying to perform some experiments that require the sonar and can now no longer do so. Can someone offer guidance, assistance, support, new parts?

Hey cjirvene,
I’m really sorry for the frustration. We have not heard about the ultrasonic sensors giving a bad reading in a few months. We’ll replace the sensor that you had received broken. Can you tell us a bit more about what all examples and projects had you tried with the ultrasonic sensor and was there a particular program after which you started noticing the bad readings.

Can you contact us here, under “General Questions and Feedback”: http://www.dexterindustries.com/site/?page_id=65 and give us the order ID. We will have one shipped to you immediately.

Again, I’m really sorry to hear about this; we’ll make it right immediately.
-Karan