Simple sensor – potentiometer

A potentiometer, also called a variable resistor, is a basic component that allows us to modify its internal resistance. We can use it to adjust settings in our program at any time. Or, we can use them to control things, such as a robotic hand or the intensity of a particular light. Here, we will make the built-in LED blink with a frequency that we will control via the potentiometer. We will also print the values over serial.

Getting ready

Following are the ingredients required for this recipe:

• An Arduino board connected to a computer via USB
• Jumper wires
• A 10K–1M ohm potentiometer/variable resistor

How to do it…

Hooking up a potentiometer is easy, and here are the steps:

1. The potentiometer has three terminals. Connect the terminal in the center to an analog pin; here, we will connect it to A2.
2. Connect one of the other terminals to GND.
3. Connect the third terminal to 5V.

Schematic

This is one possible implementation using pin A2 as the analog input:

Here...