Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Raspberry Pi & Dev Board => Topic started by: burn_654 on October 12, 2016, 01:20:14 pm

Title: Digital Potentiometers on Pi or Arduino help? Monitor control
Post by: burn_654 on October 12, 2016, 01:20:14 pm

Hi there, I'm wondering if anyone has messed around with using digital potentiometers with an arduino or pi-based system? What would be the easiest path to take?

I'm looking to make something that would be as simple as plugging a board into a windows system over usb, and getting controlled by a windows executable/command line to change the resistance of a potentiometer at will. Ideally I'd like to wire the digital pots in place of some controls on my monitor but I can see some other uses for it too.

What would be the easiest way to prototype something like this? Thanks for any input!

Title: Re: Digital Potentiometers on Pi or Arduino help? Monitor control
Post by: ed12 on October 12, 2016, 02:04:52 pm

 Arduino   bar none

http://readwrite.com/2014/05/07/arduino-vs-raspberry-pi-projects-diy-platform/ (http://readwrite.com/2014/05/07/arduino-vs-raspberry-pi-projects-diy-platform/)
read your heart out

ed

Title: Re: Digital Potentiometers on Pi or Arduino help? Monitor control
Post by: nexusmtz on October 13, 2016, 02:01:51 am

We had talked about this at http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,151383 (http://), but a lot of that discussion was lost in the server restore.

Digipots are cool, but make sure that you understand the specs. There are chips that can handle 16V or 30V, but you probably won't find those in the resistance ranges you need for the monitor pots, plus you have to deal with that delta from the input limitation of only a couple volts. (I can't explain that in terms that make sense even to me, so I'm not going to try)

Title: Re: Digital Potentiometers on Pi or Arduino help? Monitor control
Post by: burn_654 on October 31, 2016, 03:02:05 pm

Hmm...failing digital pots, how about turning on/off resistors (or a couple potentiometers for that matter) in series with the signal? Could relays be used here?

I can definitely write some simple code/script if I have to, I suppose I'm curious if anyone here's done something for similar purposes/can share experiences. For doing some usb-controlled switching with gpio it would appear arduino is the winner if I'm using the board for a single purpose (which is likely.)

Title: Re: Digital Potentiometers on Pi or Arduino help? Monitor control
Post by: nexusmtz on November 01, 2016, 11:21:19 pm

There are inexpensive usb controlled relay boards, and since a remote board with a foot and a half of wire can be used in place of pots on the chassis, it doesn't seem like the signals are that sensitive. a couple resistors through relays should work.

I have one of these (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NTUE6ZI), but I haven't played around with it yet.