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Smooth Potentiometer Input by yhtomitsy (/member/yhtomitsy/) in arduino (/technology/arduino/)

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yhtomitsy
(/member/yhtomitsy/)
Arduino Hacks
(http://www.arduino-hacks.com)

(/member/yhtomitsy/)
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Bio: I am an electrical engineer and an

Arduino and electronics enthusiasts. I
believe working with electricity should be
fun as well as beneficial to engineers ...
More (/member/yhtomitsy/)

More by yhtomitsy:

(https://cdn instructables com/FB5/UOX6/HS18GPTG/FB5UOX6HS18GPTG MEDIUM jpg)

Potentiometers come in handy when you want to control outputs with an arduino (/id/RFduino-
board or basic electronics. Recently, i embarked on a certain project that Sending-
required me to adjust the brightness and speed of LED strip patterns. So, i used and- (/id/Arduino-
Receiving- redback- (/id/Configuring-
two potentiometers to control both parameters. I will show you how to do that in
Data-Via- simple- xBee-in-API-
my next tutorial. However, right now, i want to tackle a challenge that i faced - BLE/) server/) mode/)
getting a smooth potentiometer input (http://www.arduino-hacks.com/smooth-
potentiometer-input/).
Sometimes, actually in most cases, potentiometers produce a jittery signal. This Related
can be due to low quality material used to make the potentiometers. The jittery
Digital Potentiometers
signal can be very irritating, especially if you are using the pot to control a Arduino Shield (/id/Digital-
sensitive output. That is why you need to look for a way to make the input Potentiometers-Arduino-
smooth. Shield/)
b B l i D i
Potentiometer-controlled
Servo (/id/Potentiometer-
Step 1: Low Pass Filter controlled-Servo/)
by TechMartian
(/ b /T hM ti /)
Simple RGB LED
Tutorial(Digital Colour Mixer
and Controlling using
Potentiometer) (/id/Simple-
RGB LED T t i lDi it l
Arduino - analogRead Serial
with Potentiometer
(/id/Arduino-AnalogRead-
Serial-With-Potentiometer/)
b M tA d i
Potentiometer Feedback
Control: Implementing a Soft
Extend Limit
(/id/Potentiometer-Feedback-
C t lI l ti
(https://cdn instructables com/FKB/ILJ5/HS18GPW6/FKBILJ5HS18GPW6 MEDIUM jpg)

To smooth out the pot input, you should use a low-pass filter
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-pass_filter). It removes all signals that have a
frequency that is above the set cut-off frequency. You determine the cut-off
frequency by adjusting the values of capacitance and resistance in the circuit.

The formula for getting the cut off frequency is:

Fc=1/(2RC)

Fc- cutoff frequency

R-resistance

C-capacitance
 Therefore, you can calculate the value of resistance and capacitance you need
by substituting the value of your cutoff frequency on the formula.

Since i needed a cutoff frequency of 1, I used a 10F capacitor and a 16k

resistor

Step 2: Connection

(https://cdn instructables com/FPI/NQYU/HS18GPTM/FPINQYUHS18GPTM MEDIUM jpg)

(https://cdn instructables com/F4U/R9DT/HS18GPTJ/F4UR9DTHS18GPTJ MEDIUM jpg)

The signal from the potentiometer is fed to the resistor; the capacitor is
connected in parallel with the resistor and then to the ground; the signal is
tapped from between the resistor and capacitor and fed to the arduino analogue
pin as shown in the pictures.

Thats how you smooth out your pot output. For more on this topic, visit the
following page.

http://www.arduino-hacks.com/smooth-potentiometer-input/ (http://www.arduino-
hacks.com/smooth-potentiometer-input/)

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Comments

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Please be positive and constructive. w I Made it! Add Images Post Comment

PedroHenriqueGuida (/member/PedroHenriqueGuida/) 2016-07-29 Reply

Nice showing that kind of filter. When I started with arduino, I had a lot of
problems working with leds, but I used to solve it in code instead. In the code I
stored the last pot value in a variable witch I used to compare with the actual
value, if this value is smaller than 2, it's considered as a jitter and then
descarted.

I More Comments
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