Using DS3502 (digital pot) with external power source

Projects General Guidance
1

I'm using a Speeeduino Nano and adafruit DS3502 digital potentiometer, but I need to power the DS3502 with an external 12v source. So the Nano will receive power from the USB-C connection and the input voltage to the DS3502 will be 12v.

I'm not sure how to wire the two together in terms of power connections. The adafruit instructions say to connect the arduino 5v to the DS3502 vcc, and then the DS3502 RH to the arduino 5v.

How would I wire this up given the 12v input voltage?

2

The RH to positive of 12 volt. The RW to the negative of the 12 volt.
The load of the output connects between RW and RL.
Be aware of the current limit of this output, max 1 milliAmp.

Please make a drawing, pen and paper, showing the wiring.

3

Here's what adafruit says for the wiring:

Connect the (arduino) 5V to VCC on the DS3502
Connect GND on the (arduino) to GND on the DS3502
Connect the SCL pins on the (arduino) and DS3502
Connect the SDA pins on the (arduino) and DS3502
Connect RL to GND
Connect RH to (arduino) 5V
Connect RW to the A0 pin on the (arduino), to allow us to measure the voltage

Sorry if this is basic but I'm a complete newbie. Do I just replace 5v arduino source with 12v external source above? And if I understand your comment correctly, the output of the potentiometer would come from RW (+ out) and RL (- out).

4

I don't like the Shakespeare type of schematics...... but You look like following the reply.
BUT!!!!! If You intend to read the DS3502 output with the Arduino, know it will get damaged by voltages greater than 5 volt.
Why use I2C to command the DS3502 and then read the result with the same commanding device?
I strongly suggest You use a voltage divider dividing the maximum 12 volt down to 5 before connecting the DS3502 output.

5

Yes. Connected to RH.

6

Yeah I just read that the input needs to be 2.5v - 5.5v. So never mind all this. Thanks for your replies.

7

Oops, reading 5.5. Please use a 2 resistor voltage divider making an even unused 12 volt be max 5 volt before reading it.
You know how to make a voltage divider using two resistors? Say 10 kOhm to GND and 27 kOhm to the DS3502 output. The middle point connects to the controller analog input.