Why I need a capacitor in parallel to micro limit switch

[dashy1981]

Hi All,

My circuit has two limit switches wired to Arduino's two digital pins which are pulled high through internal pullups.

One of the limit switch always worked while the other one did not.

I must mention, that both are at different locations.
For Limit Switch 1 : two way wire is about 4 meters.
For Limit Switch 2 : two way wire is about 6 meters.

Its the limit switch 2 which was not working. Although when checked manually with multimeter in continuity mode, I could see that switch2 works fine.

Thinking of some prob with longer length having more resistance and drop across the switch 2 wire, which might be causing logic level issues for arduino, I decided to put a 0.47uF capacitor across second switch. Voila, this worked, now arduino detects it correctly.

My question is, am I correct in my analysis and its the voltage drop across the wire is the culprit ?
How does a capacitor solves this ?

Cheers

 

[bertus]

Hello,

Read the following article on switch debounce:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/switch-bounce-how-to-deal-with-it/

Bertus

 

[dashy1981]

Hello,

Read the following article on switch debounce:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/switch-bounce-how-to-deal-with-it/

Bertus

Oh no..
Sorry.. it's not ABT debounce... I am doing se debouncing internally... It's really has to do with voltage drop

 

[Bluejets]

Doubt very much that "voltage drop" has anything to do with the problem.

Show your code and your circuit diagram.

Long runs that are external to the uC and pick up noise etc. can be modded using opto's.

 

[crutschow]

A capacitor across switch contacts can lead to pitting and welding of the contacts due to the large instantaneous capacitor discharge current when the contacts close.
It acts like a small-scale spot welder.

 

[dashy1981]

Doubt very much that "voltage drop" has anything to do with the problem.

Show your code and your circuit diagram.

Long runs that are external to the uC and pick up noise etc. can be modded using opto's.

Ckt dia is difficult to reproduce as it's Arduino with grbl shield. But point is that if I reduce the length of wire it works well with software debouncing... I don't doubt well tested grbl code.
Only when distance of the switch is increased then it does not detect state change.

My query is why is it working with a small cap placed across switch. My assumption in putting the cap was to keep the default voltage stable high through cap and when switch closes cap discharges and pin reads low.

Is there any other explanation for it is what I am looking for or a better method ?

 

[Bluejets]

Already told you...use an opto isolator adjacent to the uC.

 

[Martaine2005]

Try using a heavier gauge wire if 4 meters work and 6 meters doesn’t.
You say ‘two way’. Do you mean two core wire? Which is 4 meters? So a round trip is 8 meters through the switch?

Martin

 

[Harald Kapp]

An optoisolator as recommended by @Bluejets will give the best protection against noise, overvoltage etc.

If you don't want to use one and also don't want to use a capacitor across the contacts, you can try to improve robustness by using an external pull-up resistor, e.g. 1 kΩ only (compared to 30 k ... 60 k of the internal pull-up in the µC). Lower resistance means more power dissipation when the switch is active, but higher noise immunity as more energy is needed to overcome the pull-up action of the resistor. Place the resistor directly at the Arduino's port connector (not at the switch end of the wire)

If you want to stick with the capacitor, place it next to the Arduino's input, not across the switch. When connected directly at the Arduino side, the capacitor can better filter any noise that's induced in the long wire. The wure's resistance also helps (if only a tad9 to limit the current when the contact is closed, thus reducing the issue with contact wear as indicated by @crutschow .