HALL EFFECT ROTARY-POSITION SENSORS

[744sim]

Hi All,

Based on the own experience of those who are building their own flight deck, I would appreciate if someone could recommend a specific model of Hall effect rotary-position sensor for throttle, control column, etc.

I want to replace the use of conventional potentiometers but there are hundreds of models on the market and I am a little lost with this.

Any help will be welcome. Thank you!

Best regards,

[Roddez]

Hi Javier,

Replacing conventional pots with Hall Effect sensors is a very smart idea.

There are many hall effect sensors on the market that will suit your requirements.  Make sure that you find a sensor that measures position as opposed to rotational speed.

Position sensors generally differ by the type of output they provide.  Some provide an analog voltage output (VOut) of 0-3.3 or 0-5v and others provide a digital output using SPI, I2C or a PWM signal.

A Hall Effect sensor with an analog voltage output is easier to use as it will provide a simple voltage output in a ready to install package that resembles a pot.  However if you use one of these sensors, you need to make sure that you have an Analog to Digital converter (ADC) that is accurate enough to measure the fine movement of your sensor.  Usually you require a 14 or 16 bit ADC but you may get away with a 10 or 12 bit ADC if you have enough physical throw on your sensor.  See the table on this page.

The downside of these Sensors are that you are still sending an analog voltage from the sensor that is susceptible to interference and voltage drop.  However using shielded cable of sufficient size will reduce this issue.  You  are also generating a digital signal in the Hall Effect Senor, converting it to an analog voltage and then back to a digital signal again in you ADC which is somewhat inefficient.

We use Hall Effect Sensors that provide an SPI or I2C output which provides us with a 16bit output (65,536 steps).  However the complexity is that you need to write code on a microcontroller (Like a SimStack board) to interface with your sensor.  You are also limited by distance with digital signals, but you can find cost effective extenders for I2C.

Our preference is the AS5048 range of sensors (AS5048A = SPI and AS5048B=I2C) that we have used for many years now.  They provide accurate and repeatable measurements with no noise.  However you may find that a massive down side is that you will need to engineer a complete solution as these sensors are supplied on an evaluation board or as a bare chip.  We custom build bespoke solutions using a small PCB that we designed and 3D printed parts that hold the shaft, magnet and PCB.

In conclusion, I would suggest you go with sensor that outputs an analog voltage, but make sure you have an ADC that provides enough resolution for the sensor you have chosen.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Rod.

[744sim]

Rod, thank you very much for the detailed information.

Best regards,

[garys]

Im using these in my throttle. They have different values but i found the -60 gave nearly the full range of travel for how I have my throttle linkage setup. Very accurate and I no longer have any issues with the reverses not going into reverse due to the noise of potentiometers keeping PSX off idle despite the physical throttles being all the way back against the stops.

https://www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/BI-Technologies-TT-Electronics/6127V1A60L.5?qs=6gM%2Fzov0KphmIK%252BwSRnApw%3D%3D

[744sim]

Googling, researching this.

Thank you!

[FSM]

If you are willing to create your own housing / magnet these from Leo Bodnar work well for most simple conversions. There are others that cost more but look much more like a conventional pot.