We’ve had a foot pedal switch in the store for a while but some people have contacted us asking if there was a way to retrofit it to perform variable speed control, like a potentiometer. And here it is! This is a Foot Pedal Potentiometer (a.k.a Sewing Machine Speed Controller).
This is a really nice quality one, very sturdy, with a friendly 3.5mm ‘audio’ connector on the end, so it’s incredibly easy to integrate into your project. You can use a 3.5mm terminal-block adapter, in-line wired jack, breadboard jack, or a panel mount jack. A lot of the cheap samples we looked at have a wall plug, are very low resistance (because they’re meant to go in-line with the mains power) or are not very durable.
When no pressure is placed on the pedal, you’ll read about 20 KΩ. When pressed down all the way, you’ll read about 1 KΩ, and the resistance change is linear with the motion. Connect one side to ground, then the other side to a 10K resistor pull-up to your microcontroller’s logic voltage. Then read the divided analog voltage, like you would with a photo-cell or other ‘resistive’ type sensor.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: New Python Releases, an ESP32+MicroPython IDE and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
