Use a Potentiometer With Your Raspberry Pi Pico
The Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller board is a great device that can be used to automate many home tasks such as automatically watering plants, opening and closing your garage door, detecting movement in the home, and so on.
Building the foundational knowledge in order to successfully complete one (or all) of these examples takes time. This is where an inventor’s kit will come in handy. Everything, such as an instruction booklet, components, and required wires is included, so you can create experiments that will expand your knowledge and skills to automate anything your heart desires.
Preparation
The Thonny IDE (integrated development environment) is a great tool to help connect your Raspberry Pi Pico to your computer and program the Pico. To ensure that you’re all set up correctly, be sure to check out our guide ongetting started with Thonny on the Raspberry Pi Picofor details.
The Kitronik Inventor’s Kit comes with everything you need to complete this light experiment. If you are an electronic enthusiast with spare parts lying around, you may have what you need already:
Did your Pico come with pre-soldered GPIO pins? If not, find out how tosolder header pins to your Raspberry Pi Picothe right way.
Expected Output
This experiment provides a great visual representation to help explain what happens during an interrupt routine (pushing a button), at which point a pulse-width modulation (PWM) output determines the brightness of an LED—which can be controlled by using the potentiometer as an analog input.
A software interrupt will be detected when you push the button sitting on the breadboard. This action will trigger a variable that will control when the red LED light turns on or off. When you twist the potentiometer in either direction, its analog input value is transferred to the PWM output for the LED. This is the magic (if you will) behind the LED light becoming either dimmer or brighter.
Assembling Project Code
Before you continue forward, grab a copy of thecode requiredfor this experiment from the official Kitronik support site directly. As well, this resource acts as a supportive guide if you get stuck along the way.
While you have the code on the screen, let’s break down some key points in the code:
This Inventor’s Kit aims to build upon the learning that you acquire as you progress through the included booklet. With each page turn, you’ll find yourself gaining knowledge incrementally. You may also find yourself smirking with pride as the “light bulb” moments increase in frequency as your experience grows.
If you want to step back to the basics of light sensors and analog inputs, head over to ourgetting started with Raspberry Pi Pico electronics guidefor details regarding the previous light experiment in this series.
Your Future Is Bright
These kits are great for those experimenting with electronics up to an intermediate level. Now that you’ve learned some additional fundamentals around analog inputs, interrupt signals, and controlling the brightness of an LED light, you may be ready to take your knowledge to the next level.
Using a transistor to drive a motor, building upon the recent potentiometer experiment by adding a servo, setting the tone of a buzzer, counting using displays, understanding the basics of wind power, and more.
Pick up a kit that includes a booklet and all the gizmos and wires that you need to get started. Better yet, buy one for you and for someone else you know who enjoys tinkering with electronics and technology too.
Most importantly, take time to enjoy the process of building knowledge. As well, be sure to pause for pride when you find yourself completing experiments that end with a declaration such as, “I did it!”
Get to grips with the Raspberry Pi Pico with this simple mood lighting project.
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