The ADXL345 is well suited for mobile device applications. It measures the static acceleration of gravity in tilt-sensing applications, as well as dynamic acceleration resulting from motion or shock. Its high resolution (4 mg/LSB) enables measurement of inclination changes less than 1.0°.
Several special sensing functions are provided. Activity and inactivity sensing detect the presence or lack of motion and if the acceleration on any axis exceeds a user-set level. Tap sensing detects single and double taps. Free-fall sensing detects if the device is falling. These functions can be mapped to one of two interrupt output pins. An integrated, patent pending 32-level first in, first out (FIFO) buffer can be used to store data to minimize host processor intervention.
A typical module
Connection and layout
I used the following connection to my Arduino
| Arduino Connection | Module Connection |
| 5v | VCC |
| Gnd | Gnd |
| SDA | SDA |
| SCL | SCL |
And here is a layout of this in action
Code
This needs the Adafruit library – https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_ADXL345
This is just the sensor test code from the library above
[codesyntax lang=”cpp”]
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>
#include <Adafruit_ADXL345_U.h>
/* Assign a unique ID to this sensor at the same time */
Adafruit_ADXL345_Unified accel = Adafruit_ADXL345_Unified(12345);
void displayDataRate(void)
{
Serial.print ("Data Rate: ");
switch(accel.getDataRate())
{
case ADXL345_DATARATE_3200_HZ:
Serial.print ("3200 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_1600_HZ:
Serial.print ("1600 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_800_HZ:
Serial.print ("800 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_400_HZ:
Serial.print ("400 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_200_HZ:
Serial.print ("200 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_100_HZ:
Serial.print ("100 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_50_HZ:
Serial.print ("50 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_25_HZ:
Serial.print ("25 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_12_5_HZ:
Serial.print ("12.5 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_6_25HZ:
Serial.print ("6.25 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_3_13_HZ:
Serial.print ("3.13 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_1_56_HZ:
Serial.print ("1.56 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_0_78_HZ:
Serial.print ("0.78 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_0_39_HZ:
Serial.print ("0.39 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_0_20_HZ:
Serial.print ("0.20 ");
break;
case ADXL345_DATARATE_0_10_HZ:
Serial.print ("0.10 ");
break;
default:
Serial.print ("???? ");
break;
}
Serial.println(" Hz");
}
void displayRange(void)
{
Serial.print ("Range: +/- ");
switch(accel.getRange())
{
case ADXL345_RANGE_16_G:
Serial.print ("16 ");
break;
case ADXL345_RANGE_8_G:
Serial.print ("8 ");
break;
case ADXL345_RANGE_4_G:
Serial.print ("4 ");
break;
case ADXL345_RANGE_2_G:
Serial.print ("2 ");
break;
default:
Serial.print ("?? ");
break;
}
Serial.println(" g");
}
void setup(void)
{
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("Accelerometer Test"); Serial.println("");
/* Initialise the sensor */
if(!accel.begin())
{
/* There was a problem detecting the ADXL345 ... check your connections */
Serial.println("Ooops, no ADXL345 detected ... Check your wiring!");
while(1);
}
/* Set the range to whatever is appropriate for your project */
accel.setRange(ADXL345_RANGE_16_G);
/* Display additional settings (outside the scope of sensor_t) */
displayDataRate();
displayRange();
Serial.println("");
}
void loop(void)
{
/* Get a new sensor event */
sensors_event_t event;
accel.getEvent(&event);
/* Display the results (acceleration is measured in m/s^2) */
Serial.print("X: "); Serial.print(event.acceleration.x); Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("Y: "); Serial.print(event.acceleration.y); Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("Z: "); Serial.print(event.acceleration.z); Serial.print(" ");Serial.println("m/s^2 ");
delay(500);
}
[/codesyntax]
Links
ADXL345 3-axis Digital Gravity Sensor Acceleration Module