The sciBot project uses RCA plugs and jacks as the standard connector for sensors, actuators, and accessories. Since we want to hook a potentiometer up to our sciBot, we must attach it to a set of RCA plugs.
We want one end of our potentiometer hooked up to +5V (the centre pin of the red RCA plug), the other end hooked up to ground (the shield on both RCA plugs), and the wiper is attached to an input on the Arduino (the centre pin of the white RCA plug).
Materials
| Image | Quantity | Description | Manufacturer | Vendor |
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1 | RCA extension cable | Chateau 706-72 | Dollar Tree |
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1 | 10k potentiometer | TT Electronics/BI P160KN-0QD15B10K | DigiKey 987-1308-ND |
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1 | 3/8″ (9.5 mm) 3:1 adhesive heat shrink, cut to 10 mm | Qualtek Q5-3X-3/8-01-QB48IN-25 | DigiKey Q53X038B-ND |
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1 | 3/8″ (9.5 mm) 3:1 adhesive heat shrink, cut to 40 mm | Qualtek Q5-3X-3/8-01-QB48IN-25 | DigiKey Q53X038B-ND |
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3 | 1/8″ (3.2 mm) 3:1 heat shrink, cut to 10 mm | Qualtek Q2-F3X-1/8-01-QB48IN-25 | DigiKey Q2F3X018B-ND |
Instructions
Step 1 |
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| Cut the RCA extension cable about 20 cm from the jack end. Save the jacks for making an RCA Jack to RJ25 Adaptor.
Cut the cable to whatever length you want. In the following pictures, it has been cut to about 20 cm long, as that was the desired size for this potentiometer.
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Step 2 |
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| Strip about 20 mm of insulation from each of the cables, and strip about 3-4 mm from each of the wires.
Put the small piece of adhesive heat shrink over the cable, and slide down to where the red and white cables split. Heat the heat shrink so that it prevents the cable from being pulled apart from the plugs. |
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Step 3 |
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| Twist together the two wires that are the same colour. Tin the 3 exposed wires. | |
Step 4 |
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| Put the 40 mm piece of adhesive heat shrink over the cable. | |
Step 5 |
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| Tin the leads on the potentiometer. | |
Step 6 |
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| Put one small piece of heat shrink over each of the tinned RCA cable wires. Solder the two wires to the left leg of the potentiometer. Solder the white wire to the middle leg of the potentiometer, and the red wire to the right leg. | |
Step 7 |
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| Slide the small pieces of heat shrink up over the solder joints, and heat. | |
Step 8 |
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| The potentiometer is now ready for the final step of assembly. | |
Step 9 |
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| Slide the big piece of adhesive heat shrink up over the joint, and heat. |