The worst programmer ever to grace this forum - ME!

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Joe... re the counter/variable melarkey - remember, I'm very new to this. I've almost certainly done a tutorial somewhwere & simply applied what I learnt there to my program! (I haven't a lot of time to dedicate to being a<b> slick programmer</b>, so I just throw into the program the little bit that I know!). Could you be so kind as to outline the tighter code for that little increment you've honed in on as being a bit 'first lesson at PICBASIC evening class'!). BTW ...I use this magnet/switch 'count' to derive when to send a pulse to a stepper. This stepper I'm sending the pulse to, moves in synchronicity with the main motor, back & forward (the idea being to neatly feed coppoer wire on to the main turning motor). It's really cool on the odd (seemingly fluke) times I've had it working!

<b>HA HA HA, ME EITHER !</b> I wrote a Tachometer program, using count, look it over as an exemplar of using count. The code is in post #9. http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=9037

Now my head still spins at the thought of building in the debounce aspect, so
with these 'knowns' I have, which would be the best approach to ensure an accurate switch 'closing' count?


(BTW, I'm thinking now that maybe an optical pickup would be a much better solution, as this removes the debounce aspect & I can have more resolution -I will look into this, but for now I'd really like to get the cheap 'n dirty solution working!)

Optical can be cheap and reliable, magnetic is good too, thinking hall effect switch. Do you really need 36 degree resolution (10 magnets)? Using an interrupt might be your solution to all this. I do not think I would use a magneto mechanical (reed) switch as a pickup, but using a hall effect would free you of all that debounce nonsense. Sam used my code with 1 magnet for his Tach. and says it works well. As for optical, tear open an old mouse and you will find a PIC and 2 optical pickups using shutter wheels. People use printed encoders for tabletop robots all the time. A coil of wire, magnets, and a comparator input will work too, that is what works most auto ignitions, in fact I used an old car distributor while working out my tach. code. A 555 timer can be used as a wave shaper if you are not ready to try comparators yet.