How to use either a single or multiple VL53L0X distance sensors.

WARNING: The VL53L0X sensor is an infrared laser sensor. This means the beam CANNOT be seen so be careful to avoid pointing it towards eyes, human and animals.

This tutorial looks at some of the issues around using the VL53L0X sensor as well as some of the issues I discovered using different libraries.

I also discovered some variance between different versions of the sensor that had an impact on sensor range and accuracy.


After testing various libraries the one I settled for was the VL53L0X_mod version by Schnoog
downloadable from within the Arduino IDE or downloadable from github
This library was able to handle single and multiple VL53L0X sensors, seemed the most stable and displayed no warnings when compiling.
It also seemed to use the least amount of memory allowing for larger programs to be written.

The version I found worked best are the VL53L0X version available on this link.https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08219CPML

Click Image for larger Version

Click to download sketches.

DY-HV8F, DY-HV20T, DY-SV8F and DY-SV5W MP3 Players with Arduino UNO, Mega 2560 and ESP32.

WARNING: If using with 5v UNO or Mega 2560 use a voltage divider as shown in the ciruit diagram, this can be omitted for 3.3v boards such as the ESP32

DY-HV8F, DY-HV20T, DY-SV8F and DY-SV5W boards have 3.3v logic pins.

The boards give 4 Ohm/20W or 8 Ohm/10W sound output.


This project shows how to play a background set of tracks triggered by a button while using a 2nd button to interrupt and play a single track. The project also shows how to integrate a flashing LED into the code as an example of adding lighting sanimations to go with the sound.

This can be used as a basis for a lot of Model railway sound projects.

As my project is for few background sounds for a model railway the 8mb storage was just about enough.

Click Image for larger Version

Click to download sketches.

Click to download Datasheet (Uses same system as DY-SV5W)

IMPORTANT: DIP switch Positions

1 OFF
2 OFF
3 ON

DY-HV8F and DY-HV20T MP3 Player with Arduino UNO, Mega 2560 and ESP32.

WARNING: If using with 5v UNO or Mega 2560 use a voltage divider in the same way as with the JQ8900

The DY-HV8F and DY-HV20T boards have 3.3v pins.

The boards give 4 Ohm/20W or 8 Ohm/10W sound output.

WARNING: This board is a 3.3v IO pins so for 5v boards such as the Arduino UNO/Mega 2560 you will require a voltage divider.

Ideal for short project sounds including voice commands.
Also ideal for model railway sounds.

The main difference between the boards is that the DY-HV8F has a built in 8mb USB storage system while the DY-HV20T allows SD cards up to 32GB to be used to store tracks so is better if you want to run lots of larger tracks.

As my project is for few background sounds for a model railway the 8mb storage was just about enough.

Click Image for larger Version

Click to download sketches.

An extra sketch has been added with improved random play time as well as a bug fix on sketch 2 line 131

Click to download Datasheet (Uses same system as DY-SV5W)

IMPORTANT: DIP switch Positions

1 OFF
2 OFF
3 ON

JQ8900 MP3 Player with Arduino UNO, Mega 2560 and ESP32.

Click to download sketches.

Click to download Datasheet

The JQ8900 is a small solid state MP3 player with 4mb of onboard storage.

The unit is best controlled using Serial commands (UART).
Sounds are loaded directly via a USB connector.

The unit claims to work with MP3 and WAV files. I have only tested using MP3 files.

WARNING: This board is a 3.3v IO pins so for 5v boards such as the Arduino UNO/Mega 2560 you will require a voltage divider.

Ideal for short project sounds including voice commands.
Also ideal for model railway sounds.

Click Images for larger Versions

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