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Electronics Projects

Motor Tachometer

Measure motor speed in RPM with a slotted disc and photo-interrupter.

Motor Tachometer — main component

Overview

A disc with slots spins between the interrupter's LED and detector. Each slot breaks the beam, an interrupt counts it, and the board converts pulses per second into RPM.

Build Steps

  1. Make the disc

    Cut a card disc with 10 evenly spaced slots and mount it on the motor shaft so it runs in the sensor slot.

  2. Wire the sensor

    Photo-interrupter to 5 V and ground with the output on an interrupt pin; add a pull-up if the module lacks one.

  3. Count pulses

    Count interrupts over a one-second window, then RPM = pulses × 60 ÷ slots.

  4. Display and smooth

    Show RPM on the TM1637 and average a few windows so the reading stops jumping around.

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