Datasheet insanity + Saw some errors with normal mode, but not with continuous mode #3
Description
Hey @ladyada, while testing adafruit/Adafruit_Wippersnapper_Arduino#802 with normal mode I saw the sensor report some weird results where the gauss would just flatline after a large (1/2 - 2/3rds range) valid reading, in theory without the magnet being moved much (but hand held so take that with a big pinch of salt).
I also had it one reboot cycle where the sensor just refused to present any readings and there was no nearby magnetic source so I expected the normal background readings as I'd seen before, but the sensor just kept pumping out the same error message. Unfortunately I have lost that message.
In my attempts to counter that I went to continuous mode and saw only reliable / expected readings. Checking in the datasheet to understand the difference I saw that all the application examples start with setting register 29H to value 0x06 to set the signs of X/Y/Z, and also to set mode last not first. There is no other mention of the register 29, and it's left out the library code.
I set 0x06 to register 0x29, and then tried normal mode, seeing only expected readings. Nothing conclusive.
I've got a second sensor, so this time I checked that register rather than writing to it, and it's defaulted to 0x00. That 2nd sensor mostly behaved normally although possibly saw the flatline issue once in normal mode. Mostly only issues seen were normal gauss overflow messages (expected on lower range settings). I'm leaving it there for now, and we'll just use continuous mode in WipperSnapper, but there may be more info after I contact Melexis about that undocumented register.