So I have a pet project im starting up at home. I am an avid pool player and a software developer. I would like to build a small raspberry pi based device that detects when a ball goes into a pocket using a Proximity Sensor in each pocket. When a ball goes into a pocket I would like to turn on a light mounted in that pocket.
So far with my investigations I have determined that I would need :
6 Proximity Sensors
6 LED Lights
Then I would connect the proximity sensors to Qwiic Mux Breakout - 8 Channel device, and run a cable to the Pi.
My problem is the distance on a 9ft pool table from a pocket to the center of the table (where the device will be mounted) will be roughly 5 feet and I cant seem to find QWIIC cables that long.
Where can I find cables that are that long and are those even the right cables to use? Are there any other devices I might need as well?
Unfortunately it’s difficult for I2C (Qwiic) to work over long distances. Long meaning anything over a few feet.
Sparkfun carries [qwiic midpoint and [qwiic endpoint boards that can be used to extend the length of the I2C bus, but those can get expensive if you need 6 of them.
What would you recommend other than Qwiic sensors?
But overall i’m looking for a list of components i would need to build a prototype, an i on the right track? if not what components do i need to order to get started?
i think i need a proximity sensor, cable to mux , cable to pi device.