Hi all,
I'm currently working on a project with my brother that I was hoping to solve with arduino. One aspect of it involves reading in the position of a purely mechanical steering wheel. After some google searches I stumbled across absolute encoders. This seems like the way to go but I'm having trouble finding the right device. Our requirements are very low as we don't need a very specific position reading. Most of the encoders I've come across are expensive with a minimum 8-bit resolution. I was hoping we could find something inexpensive since we only really need 3-bit resolution.
Does anyone have any suggestions from past experience? Either a product suggestion or even a better approach considering our low requirements?
Thanks!
Our requirements are very low as we don't need a very specific position reading. Most of the encoders I've come across are expensive with a minimum 8-bit resolution. I was hoping we could find something inexpensive since we only really need 3-bit resolution.
Any absolute encoder will always have increased costs at any resolution higher then 2 steps compared to the classic two channel quadrature encoder. You simple have determined in error that an absolute encoder would be better then and at no cost increase over a standard quad encoder. You can in software use a quad encoder to determine absolute position if you have some form of startup/initial position indicator detector.
Lefty
Steering wheel only has limited range, yes? Like maybe 720 degrees?
Connect to a multi-turn potentiometer connected from 5V to 0, read the wiper voltage with ADC. Each position will be unique and will know right where it is.
Good call, I had put potentiometer in the back of my mind because the wheel goes further than 360. I hadn't realized I could get a multi-turn one. Thanks!