The DfRobot LD19 Lidar, compared to the RPLidar A1, looks pretty great…
I’m wondering what I’m missing…
I think they generally have the same specs but the DFRobot unit is half the size, which is very helpful to me, and doesn’t have the scary looking rubber band.
The motor of the DFRobot is a brushless motor, so they say in the documentation that its good for 10,000hours…
Has anyone used both of these lidars?
and how do they compare?
do they do the same thing?
and how would you compare the reliability of the units? (id like to lock these units away and for them to work for 2 mins per day for 15 years…)
While I havent used either, there are a couple differences in the specs.
What project were you looking at doing with them? If you are after reliability there might be some better options (anything that moves is a lot more prone to breaking vs a sensor that doesnt!)
A couple of key points
The distance is refreshed twice as fast: sample rate = 8000 Hz vs 4500Hz
Much more documentation available - link directly to the manufacturer’s website
Reliability is a tough one for hobby parts, unfortunately, suppliers won’t list a lifetime on the products as those tests will increase the cost significantly, see medical grade and high-reliability products.
With some information about the scope of your project we might be able to find some alternative sensors!
Liam
thanks Liam,
I’d like to put two lidars, on the floor, at the base of my garage door, in the posts, one each side…
the garage door comes down from the ceiling. I’ve built one that is heavier than a standard door and so the normal bump and retract feature isn’t sufficent…
The lidars cover the floor area and stop the garage door when something is underneath it…
The RPRobot unit fits into my post alot better…
the garage door takes about 45 seconds to come down, so the slower scan rate shouldn’t be an issue…
Having two might create some interference, is there any reason you’ll need both operating at the same time?
It might also be worth getting in contact with the manufacturer of the controller to get those features back online. (Those garage door springs can be deadly).
that TOF sensor looks amazing… I need some time to digest this…
The cables for this type of chip can only be very short, correct?
And with the 64 pixels, does the thing in one of those pixels need to consume the entire pixel for it to be seen? in other words, if something is small, and not in the center of the pixel, will something be detected… I imagine that once you get to 4m, the pixel would cover a lot of area.
I believe that we can set the lidars to different frequencies so that they don’t interact with each other, even though they are running through the same space… correct?
(re the springs. the one i made doesn’t have any. just a ball screw… should be safe, unless there is something underneath it… )
Usually, they’ll be short since they use I2C but a bus extender can get them quite long.
I’m not certain about the way that it senses, I had a quick scan through the datasheet and quickstart guides and they cover how to scan with the module but not how the module scans.
Given the price point (vs the Lidar) it might be worth grabbing one and doing some tests!
I’m not too sure about the Lidar’s frequency either, given that the range is 12m one ought to be fine for an average size garage, or you could begin sensing at different times and alternate as the door lowers.
Liam
Thanks again Liam,
our finds are that in order to guarantee coverage of an array zone, at 4m away, each array zone (8x8) covers 50cm x 50cm. Therefore an object would have to be more than 2x this in both length and height to guarantee an object 4m away, or 1m x 1m =1m^2, can be seen.
So we will stick with the lidar as it suits our purposes better…
