Slide Pot Inconsistencies

Projects General Guidance
1

I bought new High letgo slide pot and it performs very eraticly.

There is supposed to be a min and max value, but when I write them down, they change in a matter of seconds.

for example limits I've received during 1 minute
470 490
428 384
444 400

any suggestions on what to do ?
Is there a way to get larger range?

My current program turns on 2 leds. if potentiometer is on left then left led turns on and vice versa, and if in middle no led.

//      left  right 
//500   455   426   404
const int left = 430; //pot left value
const int right = 410; //pot right value
const int ledL = 10;
const int ledC = 5;
const int ledR = 11;
const int dirPin = 13;
int mult = 10;
float conNum = 0.00441;
int sensorPin = 13;      //pin number to use the ADC
int sensorValue = 0;    //initialization of sensor variable, equivalent to EMA Y
float EMA_a = 0.6;      //initialization of EMA alpha
int EMA_S = 0;          //initialization of EMA S

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(dirPin, INPUT );
}

void loop() {
  /*int  dir = analogRead(dirPin);
  Serial.print("Slide Pot value: ");
  Serial.println(dir);
  */
  //delay(2000);
  //      left  right 
  //467   445   426   404
  //113          100
  /*
   * int dir = analogRead(dirPin);
  dir = dir >> 2;
  dir = dir*mult;
  */

  float dir = readPotEma();
  
  if(dir > left) {
    Serial.print("In left ");
    Serial.println(dir);
    digitalWrite(ledR, LOW);
    analogWrite(ledL,dir);
  }/* else if(dir < left && dir > right) {
    analogWrite(ledC, dir);
  } */else if(dir < right) {
    Serial.print("In right ");
    Serial.println(dir);
    digitalWrite(ledL, LOW);
    analogWrite(ledR, dir);
  }else {
    Serial.print("In center ");
    Serial.println(dir);
    digitalWrite(ledL, LOW);
    digitalWrite(ledR, LOW);
  }
}

float readPotentiometer(void){
  float pos;
  pos = conNum*(analogRead(dirPin) - 44); // 44 ADC is equal to 0"
  return pos;
}

int readPotEma() {
    sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin);                //read the sensor value using ADC
    EMA_S = (EMA_a*sensorValue) + ((1-EMA_a)*EMA_S);    //run the EMA
    return EMA_S;
}
2

Could you throw some print statements in there and check to see if you are getting plausible useful numbers from the analogRead() and the function(s) those readings inform?

Stick a delay(333); in your loop() to cut down on printing, and print the pot values and the function return values every time.
a7

3

Hi,
Which Arduino are you using?
On arduinos that use the atmega328, pin 13 is not an analog pin.
And you defined pin 13 2 times with different names.

const int dirPin = 13;
int sensorPin = 13;

4

That is a symptom of TOO MUCH CURRENT going through the pot. Please show a schematic of your design.