I have an Uno which seems to have some sort of a capacitance issue. It is hooked up to a laptop via the USB so I assume it is grounded properly but when trying to create a project it will create signals on the analog and digital pins when I put my finger close to the pin. For instance, a simple project to make the LED on pin 13 light up with a button will light the LED by just putting a finger on or near the pin socket. It's probably something simple but I have never used an Arduino before so I don't know where to start to solve this issue.
gischief:
I have an Uno which seems to have some sort of a capacitance issue. It is hooked up to a laptop via the USB so I assume it is grounded properly but when trying to create a project it will create signals on the analog and digital pins when I put my finger close to the pin. For instance, a simple project to make the LED on pin 13 light up with a button will light the LED by just putting a finger on or near the pin socket. It's probably something simple but I have never used an Arduino before so I don't know where to start to solve this issue.
That is simply a matter of having an input pin 'floating' (not connected to anything) and performing a digialRead() on that pin. An external pull-up or pull-down resistor or enabling the internal pull-up resistor on the pin will prevent that pin from floating and returning random values when reading the pin. Of course the simpler thing to do is just to not read input pins in your sketch if they don't have anything wired to them.
Now if you have a passive component wired to a pin like a simple button switch you need to provide the proper pull-up or pull-down condition. The simplest means is to enable the internal pull-up for the pin and then wire the switch terminals between the pin and ground. Then when you read the pin a zero means the button is being pressed and a one means the button has been released.
Lefty
Hi,
I have been messing around with amplifiers on breadboard, you would be amazed what open inputs can collect, I could output music with no direct connection, just being on the same breadboard there was enough noise around for an open input to turn out a tune from the amp.
Duane B.
Thanks! That appears to have solved the problem.