I have a home-made power controller that uses a "negative trigger" input (ie When the trigger input goes from +12v to ground the power controller turns on. The input has a pull-up resistor so that "open" is seen as +12v). I also have an off-the-shelf ultrasonic sensor that uses a negative trigger output (goes from Open to Ground when it senses motion).
My problem is that the ultrasonic sensor either does not go fully to ground, or not long enough to reliably trigger the power controller. When I hook my multimeter to the ultrasonic sensor trigger output I can see that it the ouput does go towards ground, but it doesn't trigger the multimeter to beep in continuity mode.
My question is: Is there an easy way to 'amplify' the ground output without having to make a new circuit? Would it make a difference if I changed to using a bigger or smaller pull-up resistor inside the power controller?
There is a diode on the trigger input. Other negative-trigger devices work on the power controller input, and using a jumper wire to ground the input works also. Just seems that the negative trigger input (which uses a PNP transistor) needs to have the ground pulse be longer.
My problem is that the ultrasonic sensor either does not go fully to ground, or not long enough to reliably trigger the power controller. When I hook my multimeter to the ultrasonic sensor trigger output I can see that it the ouput does go towards ground, but it doesn't trigger the multimeter to beep in continuity mode.
My question is: Is there an easy way to 'amplify' the ground output without having to make a new circuit? Would it make a difference if I changed to using a bigger or smaller pull-up resistor inside the power controller?
There is a diode on the trigger input. Other negative-trigger devices work on the power controller input, and using a jumper wire to ground the input works also. Just seems that the negative trigger input (which uses a PNP transistor) needs to have the ground pulse be longer.