Beginner
10 min

Instantly recognize and respond to the subtle touch of water with MCP606 and PIC32MZ2048EFH100

Ensure that your environment remains dry, secure, and resilient

Water Detect 3 Click with Flip&Click PIC32MZ

Published Nov 15, 2023

Click board™

Water Detect 3 Click

Dev. board

Flip&Click PIC32MZ

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC32MZ2048EFH100

Detect the presence of water and initiate protective measures for a dry and secure environment.

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Water Detect 3 Click is based on the MCP606, a micropower CMOS operational amplifier from Microchip. The way it works is very simple. If the electroconductive water detection area (additional board that comes in the same package as this Click board™) gets wet, it feeds the inverting input of the MCP606 operational amplifier. The MCP606 then compares this voltage to the reference voltage made as a voltage divider, of which one part is a 10K trimmer potentiometer, and the other is MCP1501, a high-precision buffered voltage reference from Microchip.

By trimming this potentiometer, you can set the threshold for an MCP606, thus alarming the host MCU when there is enough water conductivity in an electroconductive water detection area. The MCP606 on this Click board™ functions as a comparator. When the sensory area is dry, its resistance is near infinite, and the voltage applied to the inverting terminal of the comparator equals VCC. The water detection area is actually made of exposed conducting wires - simple but effective technology. Water Detect 3 Click uses an interrupt INT pin to alarm the

host MCU of the water presence. Besides the interrupt, Water Detect 3 Click will also notify you with a DETECT red LED, as it is connected to the INT pin. This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the VCC SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

Water Detect 3 Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

Flip&Click PIC32MZ is a compact development board designed as a complete solution that brings the flexibility of add-on Click boards™ to your favorite microcontroller, making it a perfect starter kit for implementing your ideas. It comes with an onboard 32-bit PIC32MZ microcontroller, the PIC32MZ2048EFH100 from Microchip, four mikroBUS™ sockets for Click board™ connectivity, two USB connectors, LED indicators, buttons, debugger/programmer connectors, and two headers compatible with Arduino-UNO pinout. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology,

it allows you to build gadgets with unique functionalities and features quickly. Each part of the Flip&Click PIC32MZ development kit contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. In addition, there is the possibility of choosing the Flip&Click PIC32MZ programming method, using the chipKIT bootloader (Arduino-style development environment) or our USB HID bootloader using mikroC, mikroBasic, and mikroPascal for PIC32. This kit includes a clean and regulated power supply block through the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector. All communication

methods that mikroBUS™ itself supports are on this board, including the well-established mikroBUS™ socket, user-configurable buttons, and LED indicators. Flip&Click PIC32MZ development kit allows you to create a new application in minutes. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

Flip&Click PIC32MZ double image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

PIC32

MCU Memory (KB)

2048

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

100

RAM (Bytes)

524288

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

NC
NC
AN
NC
NC
RST
ID COMM
RA0
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
NC
NC
PWM
Interrupt
RD9
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
Power Supply
5V
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

Water Detect 3 Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Flip&Click PIC32MZ front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Flip&Click PIC32MZ as your development board.

Flip&Click PIC32MZ front image hardware assembly
GNSS2 Click front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
GNSS2 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly
Board mapper by product7 hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
Necto image step 5 hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Flip&Click PIC32MZ MCU step hardware assembly
Necto No Display image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Debug Image Necto Step hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.

2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.

3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for Water Detect 3 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • waterdetect3_get_int - Water Detect 3 interrupt pin reading function.

Open Source

Code example

The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.

/*!
 * @file main.c
 * @brief Water Detect 3 Click Example.
 *
 * # Description
 * This example demonstrates the use of the Water Detect 3 Click board by
 * detecting if water is present on the sensor part of the Click.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * Initializes the driver and configures hardware for the detection.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * Detects if any water is present on the sensor part.
 *
 * @author Stefan Ilic
 *
 */

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "waterdetect3.h"

static waterdetect3_t waterdetect3;   /**< Water Detect 3 Click driver object. */
static log_t logger;    /**< Logger object. */

void application_init ( void ) 
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;  /**< Logger config object. */
    waterdetect3_cfg_t waterdetect3_cfg;  /**< Click config object. */

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, " Application Init " );

    // Click initialization.
    waterdetect3_cfg_setup( &waterdetect3_cfg );
    WATERDETECT3_MAP_MIKROBUS( waterdetect3_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    if ( DIGITAL_OUT_UNSUPPORTED_PIN == waterdetect3_init( &waterdetect3, &waterdetect3_cfg ) ) 
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Communication init." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    
    log_printf( &logger, " Turn potentiometer VR1 all the way to the right.\r\n" );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    log_printf( &logger, " Place a few drops of water onto the sensor.\r\n" );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    log_printf( &logger, " Turn potentiometer VR1 to the left until the detect LED turns off.\r\n" );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    
    while ( WATERDETECT3_PIN_STATE_HIGH == waterdetect3_get_int( &waterdetect3 ) );
    
    log_printf( &logger, " Device is ready.\r\n" );
    
    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
}

void application_task ( void ) 
{
    if ( WATERDETECT3_PIN_STATE_HIGH == waterdetect3_get_int( &waterdetect3 ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Water detected.\r\n" );
        Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    }
}

int main ( void ) 
{
    /* Do not remove this line or clock might not be set correctly. */
    #ifdef PREINIT_SUPPORTED
    preinit();
    #endif
    
    application_init( );
    
    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }

    return 0;
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END

Additional Support

Resources

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