How to interpret accelerometer data to get decimals from -255 to 255

Question

I'm using gy-521 module and I'm wondering how can i get useful readings from it so that i could work with the data that I'm receiving.

I want for AcX and AcY variable values to be from -255 to 255. How to make this work.

sample data that I'm getting right now

X = 16380 Y = -64
X = 8116 Y = 3520
X = 12564 Y = 8728
X = -12652 Y = 1296
X = -17732 Y = -2420
X = -14576 Y = -2264

;

#include<Wire.h>
const int MPU_addr=0x68;
int16_t AcX,AcY;
void setup(){
  Wire.begin();
  Wire.beginTransmission(MPU_addr);
  Wire.write(0x6B); 
  Wire.write(0);     
  Wire.endTransmission(true);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop(){
  Wire.beginTransmission(MPU_addr);
  Wire.write(0x3B);  // starting with register 0x3B (ACCEL_XOUT_H)
  Wire.endTransmission(false);
  Wire.requestFrom(MPU_addr,14,true);  
  AcX=Wire.read()<<8|Wire.read();  
  AcY=Wire.read()<<8|Wire.read();  

  Serial.print("X = "); Serial.print(AcX);
  Serial.print(" Y = "); Serial.println(AcY);

  delay(333);
}

Answer 1

Use this code:

AcX = map(AcX, -32768, 32767, -255, 255);
AcY = map(AcY, -32768, 32767, -255, 255);

Of course, you won't be able to store the resulting value in int8_t since its range is from -128 to 127.

Here you can read more about Arduino map() function.