Do Potentiometer values make a difference with an Arduino?

OVERVIEW

In some Arduino projects we will end up using Potentiometers.

The potentiometer (or pot, as it is more commonly known) converts rotary or linear motion into a change of resistance that can be read by an Arduino analog pin.

But which value (ohms) should you use in your project?

Let’s find out if the Potentiometer Values have an impact when read from an Arduino.

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PARTS USED

Arduino UNO

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10K Potentiometer

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CONNECTIONS

We are using 4 Potentiometer values: 10K, 50K, 100K and 500K.

The outer pins of each Pot is connected to 5V and Ground from the UNO through a breadboard.

Each Pot center (or Signal) pin, is connected to an Analog pin (A0-A3).

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THE CODE

The sketch used to test is using the serial monitor to display the resulting values of each potentiometer values.

Since the Arduino is doing an Analog to Digital conversion, the results will be between 0-1023.

As always please have a look at the tutorial video for more information.

/*
  Analog input of different Potentiometers
  Testing 10K - 50K - 100K and 500K 

*/

// These constants won't change.  They're used to give names
// to the pins used:
#define analogInPin0 A0  // Analog input pin that the potentiometer is attached to
#define analogInPin1 A1  // Analog input pin that the potentiometer is attached to
#define analogInPin2 A2  // Analog input pin that the potentiometer is attached to
#define analogInPin3 A3  // Analog input pin that the potentiometer is attached to

void setup() {
  // initialize serial communications at 9600 bps 
  // (Make sure your Serial Monitor window is set to same)
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {

  // display values on the serial monitor:  
  Serial.print("Pot-10K = ");
  Serial.print(analogRead(analogInPin0));
  
  Serial.print("    Pot-50K = ");
  Serial.print(analogRead(analogInPin1));
  
  Serial.print("    Pot-100K = ");
  Serial.print(analogRead(analogInPin2));
  
  Serial.print("    Pot-500K = ");
  Serial.println(analogRead(analogInPin3));

  // wait 10 milliseconds before the next loop  
  delay(100);
}

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TUTORIAL VIDEO

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DOWNLOAD

Copy the above Sketch code in your Arduino IDE software to program your Arduino.