Quote:On a TCRT5000L, I have 3 lines:
I am looking at the data sheet now and this sensor has four wires not three. Are you sure you have the TCRT5000L? It says:-
Quote:The TCRT5000 and TCRT500L are reflective sensors
which include an infrared emitter and phototransistor
in a leaded package which blocks visible light. The
package includes two mounting clips. TCRT5000L is
the long lead version.
Now if you have a sensor with three wires with one connected to +5V and GND then you have not got the Vishay Semiconductors TCRT500L. So that being said let me consider the rest of your question.
Quote:I need to use the 5v and GND inputs of the Arduino board as the power source for four of them (without hurting non of them ))
Yes that will be ok.
Quote:I connect the 4 DATA lines from them, to the digital inputs of the Arduino
If you connect each DATA line to a separate digital input that will be fine.
If you want to connect all 4 sensors to 1 input then there will be problems. As you don't have the device you think you have, or at least the data sheet I am looking at I can't say how you could connect them up. Assuming it would not harm the sensor it will act like a "wired OR". That means if any one sensor is receiving a reflection you will not be able to say what the other sensors are doing.
Quote:should I use a resistor between the sensor and power source from Arduino
If you have the 4 wire sensor I am looking at then yes you need a resistor in series with the LED. The data sheet has this photo:-

The LED can take up to 60mA so a small resistor will be OK. If you feed it with 5V, you get about 2 volts across the diode and so the resistor has 3 volts across it. So with E=IR for a current of say 40mA you need a resistor of 3/40 = 75 ohms.
However as you have a 3 wire sensor I don't know what you need.