Arduino Tinkering?

[SineHacker]

Hey all, does anyone fiddle with arduino? I have a little dilema, I hope this isn't too off topic...

Next week is my final show for my last year of uni, I have been working on a arduino project that basically is an interface for a max/msp patch. The problem I'm having is with the hardware, I'm using a number of buttons, leds and pots, including some sliders I got from rapidonline.com - I'm panicking a little with my time constraint, I'm also a technician in my department and have lost a lot of time helping other students perfect their work at the cost of my own

everything works as it is supposed to individually, and it is all low level stuff for arduino, simply using basic components to give a digital measurement - everything else is being handled inside max/msp. However as I was constructing the interface today, I found that when I installed a second slider the power to the arduino was killed. At first I thought that I had overloaded the board with components and it couldn't cope with the power soak, but I shortly therafter discovered that when one slider was connected it would become very hot very quickly :/

The sliders are 10k, but i'm also using 10k rotary pots, that function normally without heating up. the sliders have confused me a little as they have four tips rather than 3, so I suspect I may have got my wiring wrong. The tip are marked 1, 2, 2 and 3 - I tested with a multimeter initially and concluded that the tips marked 2 could be connected to 5v and GND whilst either 1 or 3 could be sent to an analogue pin on the arduino (I can't remember why I came to this conclusion though). Check them out (the pdf manual doesn't provide much of an obvious clue)

http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Resistors-Potentiometer/Control-Potentiometers/Slide-potentiometers/65234

sorry to compose such an essay, I wanted to make the situation clear in case I have done something dumb (usually the case)

regards.

aid

[Gordonjcp]

The two pins marked 2 are the wiper.  By wiring that across the supply you're shorting it out.

Wire all your variable resistors up as voltage dividers, not series resistors.  Have a look at the circuit diagrams for some more modern synths to see how things like the pitch benders are wired to the controller.

If you need "real-time" help then come and bug me in #circuitbenders on irc.freenode.net - the channel is pretty quiet, but I usually idle in it ;-)

[SineHacker]

The two pins marked 2 are the wiper.  By wiring that across the supply you're shorting it out.

ah, so should I be using 1 and 3 for 5v and GND and I can use the 2 pin at either end for my reading. I will try this now

aid

[SineHacker]

The two pins marked 2 are the wiper.  By wiring that across the supply you're shorting it out.

Wire all your variable resistors up as voltage dividers, not series resistors.  Have a look at the circuit diagrams for some more modern synths to see how things like the pitch benders are wired to the controller.

If you need "real-time" help then come and bug me in #circuitbenders on irc.freenode.net - the channel is pretty quiet, but I usually idle in it ;-)

thanks, this sorted it, i'm using pins 1 and 3 for 5v and GND now and 2 for my reading, nice 1!!