Attaching Potentiometer to Robot Controller

[CrashOverride]

I would like to attach a 100K ohm potentiometer to each of the joints in our arm and connect it to the analog inputs on the robot controller. I don't understand the instruction in the first manual. I don't want to attach in wrong and fry the controller. Any advise would be appreciated.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by CrashOverride

I would like to attach a 100K ohm potentiometer to each of the joints in our arm and connect it to the analog inputs on the robot controller. I don't understand the instruction in the first manual. I don't want to attach in wrong and fry the controller. Any advise would be appreciated.

Using a potentiometer as an analog sensor on the RC is easy. Connect one end of the pot to the red wire (+5), the other end to the black wire (GND), and the center/wiper to the white wire (SIG).

I think you'd get somewhat better results with a 20K or even 10K pot. The lower resistance will resist picking up noise on the signal.

[eugenebrooks]

Originally Posted by CrashOverride

I would like to attach a 100K ohm potentiometer to each of the joints in our arm and connect it to the analog inputs on the robot controller. I don't understand the instruction in the first manual. I don't want to attach in wrong and fry the controller. Any advise would be appreciated.

Your pot has three terminals. The center terminal is connected to
the "wiper" that moves along the surface of a resistor as you rotate
the shaft. The other two terminals hook to the ends of the resistor.
If you hook an ohm meter to the two outer terminals it should read
100K ohms. If you hook the meter between one outer terminal and
the wiper, with the pot set in the middle of its travel, it should read
about 50K ohms. You can check that you have the terminals on the
pot understood by turning the wiper and watching the meter.

On the RC, the analog inputs have three pins. One pin provides a voltage
of 5 volts. One pin is ground. The remaining pin is the "signal" pin.
These are marked on the controller. You hook the two "ends" of the
resistor, the outer terminals on the pot, to the ground and the +5 volt
line. You hook the middle terminal, the wiper, to the signal line.
You can cut the male end off of a PWM cable and solder the wires
to your pot, making it easy to plug the pot onto the analog input of
the RC.

See page 8 on the RC reference guide that you can download from the
innovation first site. If you don't understand the directions at this point,
you should get help from someone who does.

Have fun,
Eugene