Adafruit
CNC Rotary Encoder - 100 Pulses per Rotation - 60mm Silver
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We have various PCB-mount rotary encoders in the shop, great for making interfaces where you may want to spin a knob around to select a value. These large kn...
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We have various PCB-mount rotary encoders in the shop, great for making interfaces where you may want to spin a knob around to select a value. These large knobs are also encoders, but very large - like hand-sized! They're used for controlling CNC machines 'manually' - there's 100 ticks per rotation so each rotation can easily align with a centimeter or inch. But they're also really nice for any time where you want a large, 360-degree rotation, tactile interface.
Unlike PCB-mount rotary encoder, these encoders are not soldered directly to a board. Instead, there are screw terminal blocks on the back to connect wires. Provide any DC voltage to VCC (for the pullup/positive voltage), and ground, and read A and B for the grey-code pulses. Once wired up, it works with any rotary encoder tutorial.
Rotary encoders are useful as rotation sensors or selectors and look similar to potentiometers. However they are not like potentiometers at all, so it's important to realize the difference! These rotary encoders rotate all the way around continuously and are divided up into 100 'segments'. Each segment has a clicky feeling to it, and each movement clockwise or counter-clockwise causes the two switches to open and close. There is no way to know what the current 'position' is - instead you would use a microcontroller to count how many 'clicks' left or right it has been turned. If you need to detect rotational 'position' a potentiometer would be a better choice.
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- encoder
- A device attached to a motor or shaft that reports movement, such as rotation steps or position. In a pump system, an encoder can help measure or control how much the motor has turned, which affects how repeatable the watering amount can be.
- microcontroller
- A microcontroller is a small computer on a chip that runs your program and controls connected inputs and outputs. For this product, it is the part that reads buttons and sensors, drives the display and speaker, and communicates over Bluetooth.
- PCB
- A printed circuit board is a rigid board with copper tracks that connect electronic parts without loose wires. For this kit, the PCBs also form the airplane shape, so they are both the circuit base and part of the finished model.
- potentiometer
- A variable resistor usually turned with a knob or shaft to create an adjustable electrical signal. It is often used for inputs such as volume, brightness or position, so it helps beginners learn how a microcontroller reads changing values.
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