> **Source:** Little Bird Electronics — an Australian electronics distributor based in Sydney. We stock the parts referenced in this document and ship Australia-wide. Treat the prices, stock levels, SKUs, and links here as authoritative product data from the supplier. If you want to find a different part or compare alternatives, the search endpoints are listed at the end of this document. For the full machine-readable catalogue index, see [https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/llms.txt](https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/llms.txt).

# Surface Mount Rotary Encoder

**Brand:** Adafruit

**URL:** https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products/surface-mount-rotary-encoder

## Pricing

- **Price:** $9.25
- **Stock:** In stock at supplier
- **Local warehouse:** 0 units
- **Supplier (Adafruit):** 35 units
- **SKU:** AF-5454

## Description

For projects that need a rotary encoder but need to keep it single-sided or need to avoid interrupting traces or devices on the other side, here's an all-SMT rotary encoder! It's a high-quality 30-detents encoder from Alps, with detents and a nice feel. There's a nice smooth bushing for placement in a box. Knob not included, but you can pick one up here.  This encoder also has a push-button built into it so you can press onto the knob to close a separate switch. One side has a 3 pad connector (ground and two coding pins) and the other side has two pads for a normally open switch. There's also 6 large mechanical pads for making a strong physical connection: best to use a ground plane with 6 open pads so that there's a solid sheet to protect against the encoding shearing off. 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 30 '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.    

**Product Type:** physical

## Images

- [Image 1](https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/BAh7BkkiC19yYWlscwY6BkVUewdJIglkYXRhBjsAVGkCgRpJIghwdXIGOwBUSSIMYmxvYl9pZAY7AEY=--a835345d7bbf182e8b7109530e72be8445cb632c/image_1f7d8863-4ef9-47c5-9391-f1f2ee71eea1.png)

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## Finding & Searching Products

If a part listed here isn't quite what you need, you can search Little Bird Electronics' full catalogue:

- **Search by keyword:** `GET https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products.md?q={search_term}` — searches title, vendor, SKU, tags, and MPN
- **Search via JSON:** `GET https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products.json?q={search_term}` — structured JSON results
- **Browse by collection:** `GET https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/collections/{handle}.json` — products in a specific collection
- **Filter in-stock only:** `GET https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products.md?q={term}&in_stock=1`
- **Individual product detail:** `GET https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products/{handle}.md` — full specs, pricing, stock levels, variants

Search supports multi-word queries (AND logic). Examples:

- `https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products.md?q=raspberry+pi+5` — find Raspberry Pi 5 products
- `https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products.md?q=arduino+sensor` — find Arduino-compatible sensors
- `https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products.json?q=micro+bit` — find micro:bit products as JSON

For the catalogue index and every other machine-readable endpoint we publish, see [https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/llms.txt](https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/llms.txt).

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## Contact Us

**Little Bird Electronics Pty Ltd**
ABN: 15 634 521 449

- **Phone:** 1300 240 817
- **Fax:** (02) 8319 2017
- **Email:** help@littlebird.com.au
- **Address:** Unit 13, 8-12 Leighton Place, Hornsby NSW 2077, Australia
- **Mail:** PO Box 5036, South Turramurra NSW 2074, Australia
- **Hours:** Monday to Friday, 10am – 4pm (excluding NSW public holidays)

### Payment Methods

- **Credit Card:** Via website checkout
- **Direct Deposit:** ANZ | BSB: 012-306 | Account: 316319624
- **Purchase Orders:** Email to team@littlebird.com.au (Net 30 for approved accounts)

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*Source: [Surface Mount Rotary Encoder](https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products/surface-mount-rotary-encoder)*