VL6180x System error code after single shot range measurement attempt

jonathanlloyd · ‎2015-03-07

Posted on March 07, 2015 at 23:49

I have a one of the VL6180x sensors that I have soldered leads onto and configured as specified in the datasheet.

Using this library on GitHub I'm able to read ambient light measurements, but range measurements are not working:

https://github.com/sparkfun/ToF_Range_Finder-VL6180_Library

I'm reading a value of 255 for the range measurement and the (0x004D)RESULT_RANGE_STATUS registers bits[7:4] contains a value of 1 which is described in the app notes AN4545 as a system error.

After looking over the code from GitHub I'm not too confident in it. I've spent a few hours making changes and applying some of the suggestions here in the forum that I believe are relevant. However, I want to make sure that it is a software issue before I go much further.

What would cause a system error 1?

Module info:

Model ID = 180

Model Rev = 1.3

Module Rev = 1.2

Manufacture Date = 15/9/14 Phase: 1

Manufacture Time (s)= 19898

-Jonathan

Nickname681_O · ‎2015-03-09

Posted on March 09, 2015 at 20:28

A ranging error of 1 is caused by a failure of VCEL continuity test. This is can be caused by:

1. AVDD_VCEL (pin 8) not connected well and powered by 2.8V.

2. AVSS_VCEL (pin 9) not connected to GND

3. An internal problem with the laser in which case the part should be replaced.

Ken W@ST

jonathanlloyd · ‎2015-03-10

Posted on March 11, 2015 at 07:34

Thank you Ken, I was suspecting something along those lines. I'll check my connections, or get another part setup. I'll let you know how it goes.

Jon

From: Ken W@ST

Posted: Monday, March 09, 2015 8:28 PM

Subject: VL6180x System error code after single shot range measurement attempt

A ranging error of 1 is caused by a failure of VCEL continuity test. This is can be caused by:

1. AVDD_VCEL (pin 8) not connected well and powered by 2.8V.

2. AVSS_VCEL (pin 9) not connected to GND

3. An internal problem with the laser in which case the part should be replaced.

Ken W@ST

jonathanlloyd · ‎2015-04-17

Posted on April 18, 2015 at 03:05

I was able to get another one working :) thanks for your help.

Jon