TCRT5000 Infrared Obstacle Sensor Module for Smart Car Tracing and Avoidance

TCRT5000 Infrared Obstacle Sensor Module | Reflective Photoelectric Sensor with Digital and Analog Output for Smart Car Line Tracing, Robot Obstacle Avoidance and Material Detection

The TCRT5000 Infrared Obstacle Sensor Module is the reflective photoelectric sensor on a ready-to-use breakout board — the workhorse module for smart car line tracing, robot obstacle avoidance, material testing, and color detection in Arduino / Raspberry Pi / STM32 maker projects and educational robotics.

Detects reflective or obstructed surfaces beyond a configurable threshold. Outputs high logic level when the reflective distance exceeds the threshold — easy to interface with any microcontroller GPIO. Both digital output (DO) for binary obstacle / no-obstacle decisions and analog output (AO) for precise distance measurements come standard, giving flexibility across application types. Operates on 3.3V to 5V covering both 3.3V (ESP32, Raspberry Pi) and 5V (Arduino UNO, AVR) MCU stacks.

Typical Applications

• Smart car line tracing — black-line follower competitions, mobile robot navigation.
• Robot obstacle avoidance — short-range collision detection for indoor robots.
• Material detection / color detection — reflective surface classification on sorting machines.
• Counter / position sensors — counting items moving past a fixed point on a conveyor.
• Encoder feedback — reading reflective patches on rotating shafts for position / speed feedback.
• Educational electronics projects — STEM / robotics teaching kits.

TCRT5000 Module Specifications

FAQ — TCRT5000 IR Sensor Module

Q: How do I calibrate the detection threshold?
A: Turn the onboard potentiometer to set the trigger distance. Test on the actual surface you'll be detecting — black vs white vs reflective metal all reflect differently. The digital output transitions when the measured reflectance crosses the threshold; the analog output gives a continuous reading you can read with an ADC for precise control.

Q: Why both digital and analog output?
A: Digital is simpler — connect directly to any GPIO, no ADC needed, single bit indicates obstacle present / absent. Analog gives proportional distance information — useful for following a gradient (e.g., centering on a black line) rather than just detecting it. Use one or both depending on your application.

Q: What's the realistic detection range?
A: Typically 2-30mm depending on surface reflectance. White / reflective surfaces detect at longer range; dark / matte surfaces require closer distance. The module is designed for short-range reflective sensing, not long-range proximity detection.

Q: Bulk pricing for production runs?
A: Yes — email contact@lys-sz.com with your quantity for tier pricing on educational kits or production deployments.

Related products

• ACS712 Current Sensor Module 5A / 20A / 30A
• ESP-07 ESP8266 WiFi UART Module
• STM32F334R8T6 STM32F3 MCU
• BU01 UWB Indoor Positioning Module

Educational kit makers or production OEMs stocking TCRT5000 modules? Email contact@lys-sz.com for bulk pricing. Worldwide shipping from our Shenzhen warehouse.