NTC temperature sensor



  • I have a 10K NTC temperature sensor and I'm a bit lost how I can use it with my LoPy. How do I connect it? How do I read the temperature from it? I just know that I most probably need to use the adc functionality, but thats all.

    Thanks for any hint!



  • @jmarcelino: Yes, Ive read that. But you would still have to compensate for the non-zero range (at least in your circuit). So at the moment and with limited requirements for precision, using the lower attenuation variants 0 and 6db and simply adding an offset would be sufficient as compensation.
    If you need precise values, yes, then an external ADC is anyhow recommended.
    B.T.W. Is there still the option to use the ADC in 10 bit mode, like by an option res = xx in the channel set-up?



  • @robert-hh
    this is an open issue on ESP-IDF and also the Arduino core

    https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/issues/164
    https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/issues/92

    The official response from Espressif is:

    The ADC frontend indeed has a non-linear response. Once characterization data is ready, we will take it into account inside ADC APIs, and update the datasheet with correct values of INL/DNL and effective resolution.

    So any efforts to compensate it at this stage will likely be rendered useless in a future update once the characterisation is complete (at least at ESP-IDF/MicroPython level)

    That's also why I suggested an external ADC for the time being, at least that won't change.



  • So I gave it a try, connected a power source to the input and read the average of 100 samples each. The results are not convincing.
    a) Even at an average of 100 samples, there is a lot of noise..
    b) it looks pretty nonlinear., at least at attn 3
    results:

    attn = 3
    value 0 until 125 mV
    107	mV -> 0
    200	mV -> 95
    300	mV -> 215
    500	mV -> 455
    700	mV -> 700
    1000 mV -> 1070
    1500 mV -> 1700
    1600 mV -> 1815
    2000 mV -> 2310
    2500 mV -> 2930
    2900 mV -> 3540
    3000 mV -> 3740
    3100 mV -> 3955
    3170 mV -> 4095
    
    
    attn = 0
    Value 0 until 57 mV
    100 mV -> 127
    200 mV -> 550
    300 mV -> 974
    500 mV -> 1820
    700 mV -> 2650
    900 mV -> 3510
    1000 mV -> 3933
    1044 mV -> 4095
    

    If you look at that in a graph, at attn 3 the bends up beyond 2.5 V, while the attn=0 graph looks more linear, besides the 0-Offset.
    That's worse than I expected. The best one can get is to work with attn = 0 and use an external voltage divider.
    Edit: I found a link that shows an experience, which pretty much matches mine:
    http://www.esp32.com/viewtopic.php?t=1045
    The Figures I got are pretty much the same. So 6db attn would be an option too.



  • As always, the information given by espressif is poor. Nothing compared to the manuals issued for instance by Atmel, STM or Freescale. It is unclear, how much the attenuation level really is, some say 11db, some say 12 db. 11db would be a factor 3.55, 12 db a factor 3,98 (10**(atten/20)) of the base range, which is ?. In any case, better give it a try. If you have a voltage meter, get the value at the input and scale it by:

    Vrange = Vinput * (4095/reading)



  • @robert-hh said in NTC temperature sensor:

    if you requirement for precision is not extreme (like with 1% error)

    There is no exterme precision requirement. 1% would be completely fine.

    a) the zero point. look at which input voltage the output is different to zero. According to a comment below, this is somewhat like 0.1 V
    b) the scaling: Look at which input voltage the output just reaches the maximum value.
    c) nonlinearity. You could make a compensation table, or ignore it, if it is small enough and outside the range of interest.
    d) Noise
    a) and b) is easily compensated for. d) is reduced with taking an average of many samples, like you did. You do not have to wait a second in between, and a small capacitor like 10 nF with short leads directly at the ADC helps.

    Thanks for the inputs!

    Another observation: You connect the NTC to 3.2 V (are you sure it's not 3.3V?).

    It is connected to 3V3, so it is of course 3.3V. I've chosen 3.2V for Vin in the second equation because of the parameter attn=3. I've read that in this threads: https://forum.pycom.io/topic/226/lopy-adcs and here https://forum.pycom.io/topic/602/ntc-temperature-sensor/6

    The ADC max range is at 3.6 V, the reading at 3.2 V would be 3631. Instead of 4095, you should therefore use 3631 as the virtual maximum value. Then, the resistor value is 9793 (10412 for 3.3 V), which is 2% off the nominal value, and depending of the precision class of the resistor that could be the real value.

    Interesting. I must have missed this information in the documentation, I thought 3.3V is the maximum.



  • I think you could stil use the built-in ADC, if you requirement for precision is not extreme (like with 1% error). But you have to compensate the errors of the ADC.
    a) the zero point. look at which input voltage the output is different to zero. According to a comment below, this is somewhat like 0.1 V
    b) the scaling: Look at which input voltage the output just reaches the maximum value.
    c) nonlinearity. You could make a compensation table, or ignore it, if it is small enough and outside the range of interest.
    d) Noise
    a) and b) is easily compensated for. d) is reduced with taking an average of many samples, like you did. You do not have to wait a second between the samples. A few ms is sufficient, if at all, and a small capacitor like 10 nF with short leads directly at the ADC helps.

    Another observation: You connect the NTC to 3.2 V (are you sure it's not 3.3V?). The ADC max range is at 3.6 V, the reading at 3.2 V would be 3631. Instead of 4095, you should therefore use 3631 as the virtual maximum value. Then, the resistor value is 9793 (10412 for 3.3 V), which is 2% off the nominal value, and depending of the precision class of the resistor that could be the real value.



  • @robert-hh said in NTC temperature sensor:

    resistance = SERIESRESISTOR * ((4095 / average) - 1)

    Yes, that looks better, I use the following test code now:

    import machine
    import time
    
    THERMISTORPIN = 'P16'
    NUMSAMPLES = 5
    SERIESRESISTOR = 10000
    
    adc = machine.ADC(0)
    adcread = adc.channel(attn=3, pin=THERMISTORPIN)
    samples = [0.0]*NUMSAMPLES
    for i in range(NUMSAMPLES):
        samples[i] = adcread()
        print("sample %u: %u" %(i, samples[i]))
        time.sleep(1)
      
    average = 0
    for i in range(NUMSAMPLES):
        average += samples[i]
    
    average /= NUMSAMPLES
    
    print("average sample: %u" %average)
    
    resistance = SERIESRESISTOR * ((4095 / average) - 1)
    
    print("resistance: %u" %resistance)
    
    Vin = 3.2
    buffer = average * Vin
    Vout = buffer / 4095
    buffer = (Vin / Vout) - 1
    R2 = 10000 * buffer
    
    print("resistance2: %u" %R2)
    

    and the output is:

    sample 0: 1850
    sample 1: 1836
    sample 2: 1837
    sample 3: 1845
    sample 4: 1829
    average sample: 1839
    resistance: 12262
    resistance2: 12262
    

    Nevertheless, the ADC accuracy seems to be very bad so measuring the temperature this way seems useless. I'll try it with an external ADC as soon as it arrived.



  • I think it should. If you NTC is connected between Vcc and ADC, this line:

    resistance = SERIESRESISTOR / ((4095 / average) - 1)

    should be:

    resistance = SERIESRESISTOR * ((4095 / average) - 1)

    For instance:
    at 50°C, the value of the NTC is 3588 Ohm. That should give an ADC reading of:

    4095 * (10000/(3588 + 10000)) = 3014

    Put that into your formula, and you get 27881 Ohm
    Put that into the other formula, and you get 3587 Ohm.
    Regards, Robert



  • @robert-hh said in NTC temperature sensor:

    I'm still thinking how you have connected the thermistor a) between Vcc and ADC (like sketched below) or b) between ADC and GND. From your code, it looḱs like b)

    It's currently connected like this:

    3V3
     +
     |
     |
    +-+
    |-|
    |-| 10k resistor (instead of NTC)
    +-+
     |
     |
     +--------------+ P16
     |
     |
    +-+
    |-|
    |-| 10k resistor
    +-+
     |
     |
     +
    GND
    

    Do you think the code doesn't fit this scheme?

    @jmarcelino said in NTC temperature sensor:

    use a much more accurate dedicated external ADC - connected over I2C for example

    I've ordered a Velleman MM112 external ADC with I2C interface, I can then compare the values.



  • I'm still thinking how you have connected the thermistor a) between Vcc and ADC (like sketched below) or b) between ADC and GND. From your code, it looḱs like b)
    And yes, there were quite a few notes about the ADC's poor performance. If you need more precise values, you should compensate at least for the actual range.



  • @tobru
    There is some known non-linearity in the ESP32 ADC which is not (yet) being compensated on the ESP-IDF (and thus neither in micropython)

    https://twitter.com/ba0sh1/status/815759185816129536/

    For example up to 0.1v it registers 0.0. So at the least you need to account for that.

    You may be able to compensate these in software. Personally I'd just use a much more accurate dedicated external ADC - connected over I2C for example - for NTC measurements. For example a ADS1115 breakout can be had for less than $2.



  • @tobru I think the problem could be also caused by non-exactly-accurate assumption about an ADC range. Even if we assume it's a 3.2V, it's still not the same as the one you are giving to thermister. I think it could cause some non-linear behavior. (In arduino I think they are using external Vref in this mode.)



  • Line 32 should not be indented

    Ouch. This of course should not have happened! Thanks a lot to @robert-hh for spoting this! Looks much better now... But: It seems that the measurement is not really accurate, connecting the 10k resistor instead of the NTC thermistor should give me a value around this (I know that it won't be 100% perfect), but it looks like this:

    sample 0: 1827
    sample 1: 1869
    sample 2: 1823
    sample 3: 1843
    sample 4: 1845
    average sample: 1841
    resistance: 8170
    

    the code:

    import machine
    import time
    
    THERMISTORPIN = 'P16'
    NUMSAMPLES = 5
    SERIESRESISTOR = 10000
    
    adc = machine.ADC(0)
    adcread = adc.channel(attn=3, pin=THERMISTORPIN)
    samples = [0.0]*NUMSAMPLES
    for i in range(NUMSAMPLES):
        samples[i] = adcread()
        print("sample %u: %u" %(i, samples[i]))
        time.sleep(1)
      
    average = 0
    for i in range(NUMSAMPLES):
        average += samples[i]
    
    average /= NUMSAMPLES
    
    print("average sample: %u" %average)
    
    resistance = SERIESRESISTOR / ((4095 / average) - 1)
    
    print("resistance: %u" %resistance)
    

    Could it be that the ADC isn't very accurate? What can I do to get a more accurate result of the measurement? Or could it be that the equation for calculating the resistance is wrong?



  • I also think the problem was with average. I did not used your latest line (celsius = ((steinhart - 32) / 1.8) - 1) in my code and I think I got adequate results, but I didn't check it without thermistor connected. As of line 38 - it is actualy "/", not "*" - it make 1/x



  • Hello @tobru. I see a small glitch in you code. Line 32 should not be indented. It should read:

    average /= NUMSAMPLES
    without the indents, otherwise the division is done in every loop.
    and line 38 has to read
    resistance = SERIESRESISTOR * resistance

    The Steinhart-Hart equation calculates Kelvin. I found another example here, which may be the same you were using: https://gist.github.com/100ideas/1119533.



  • I've tried to convert the arduino code to MicroPython, but I'm not sure if I've done this right (especially the calculation part):

    import machine
    import time
    import math
    
    # which analog pin to connect
    THERMISTORPIN = 'P16'
    # resistance at 25 degrees C
    THERMISTORNOMINAL = 10000
    # temp. for nominal resistance (almost always 25 C)
    TEMPERATURENOMINAL = 25
    # how many samples to take and average, more takes longer
    # but is more 'smooth'
    NUMSAMPLES = 5
    # The beta coefficient of the thermistor (usually 3000-4000)
    BCOEFFICIENT = 3950
    # the value of the 'other' resistor
    SERIESRESISTOR = 10000
    
    # take N samples in a row, with a slight delay
    adc = machine.ADC(0)
    adcread = adc.channel(attn=3, pin=THERMISTORPIN)
    samples = [0.0]*NUMSAMPLES
    for i in range(NUMSAMPLES):
        samples[i] = adcread()
        print("sample %u: %u" %(i, samples[i]))
        time.sleep(1)
      
    # average all the samples out
    average = 0
    for i in range(NUMSAMPLES):
        average += samples[i]
        average /= NUMSAMPLES
    
    print("average sample: %u" %average)
    
    # convert the value to resistance
    resistance = 4095 / average - 1
    resistance = SERIESRESISTOR / resistance
    
    print("resistance: %u" %resistance)
      
    steinhart = resistance / THERMISTORNOMINAL # (R/Ro)
    steinhart = math.log(steinhart) # ln(R/Ro)
    steinhart /= BCOEFFICIENT # 1/B * ln(R/Ro)
    steinhart += 1.0 / (TEMPERATURENOMINAL + 273.15) # + (1/To)
    steinhart = 1.0 / steinhart # Invert
    steinhart -= 273.15 # convert to C
    
    celsius = ((steinhart - 32) / 1.8) - 1
    
    print("celsius: %u" %celsius)
    

    To test it, I've connected a 10k resistor instead of the NTC thermistor. The output is:

    sample 0: 1879
    sample 1: 1857
    sample 2: 1863
    sample 3: 1878
    sample 4: 1863
    average sample: 466
    resistance: 1284
    celsius: 25
    

    This looks good at first sight. But then I connected a 1k resistor instead of the NTC thermistor, this should output around 85c, but the output is this:

    sample 0: 181
    sample 1: 211
    sample 2: 199
    sample 3: 211
    sample 4: 212
    average sample: 52
    resistance: 130
    celsius: 75
    

    The value isn't really correct. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I'm also wondering about the comment # convert to C in the Steinhart equation, the output looks more like Farenheit to me, this is why I added the conversion to celsius (hopefully correct).

    For the record: I'm using the following NTC thermistor: http://shop.boxtec.ch/temperatursensor-ntc-mit-stahlkappe-p-42342.html



  • You can find some Arduino code here: https://github.com/adafruit/Thermistor-test/blob/master/thermistortest.pde. Hope you can convert it to Python. Note that our ADC full range is 4096, so you should use 4095 instead of 1023



  • At least you need a known mapping between the temperature and the NTC value. If you have a data sheet of that part, you'll find it there.
    From the adc value you can calculate back the resistor value of the NTC, and with the mapping between resistor value and the temperature the temperature.
    Assuming that the ADC's range is set to 3.2 V, and the Range is 12 bit, and the connection is as shown below,

    R_NTC = R1 * (ADC_FULL_RANGE/adc_reading - 1)

    R1 = 10000, and ADC_FULL_RANGE = 4096

    Line said below, you might take the average of a few readings, and you might have to interpolate between values not in your mapping table.



  • @tobru said in NTC temperature sensor:

    Where do I find documentation about this?

    I answer myself: Here in the forum under LoPy ADCs. Next step: How to calculate the temperature from the measured value. Any hints appreciated.



Pycom on Twitter