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This instructable will tell you how to make and connect a soft potentiometer to a microcontroller, in particular we will connect it to a Lilypad Arduino. In our case soft potentiometer means a potentiometer made of a textile conductive ribbon.
What you need:
1. soft conductive textile ribbon. The important thing here is that the tape must have some resistance along its leght. So if you apply a multimeter you should be able to measure a value like 3 Kohm per 10 inches of lenght or something similar. You can make your own tape, or buy it on www.plugandwear.com. You can also buy the complete kit on www.plugandwear.com.
2. One metal necklace toggle clasp (we will use only the ring). Check if it is conductive before using it. We will call this item 'cursor'. A cursor is the sliding part of a potentiometer.
3. A lilypad Arduino, or another type of microcontroller.
What you need:
1. soft conductive textile ribbon. The important thing here is that the tape must have some resistance along its leght. So if you apply a multimeter you should be able to measure a value like 3 Kohm per 10 inches of lenght or something similar. You can make your own tape, or buy it on www.plugandwear.com. You can also buy the complete kit on www.plugandwear.com.
2. One metal necklace toggle clasp (we will use only the ring). Check if it is conductive before using it. We will call this item 'cursor'. A cursor is the sliding part of a potentiometer.
3. A lilypad Arduino, or another type of microcontroller.
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Signing UpStep 1Assembling the soft potentiometer
Cut a 5" (12 cm) piece of resistive tape. If you want your cursor (the toggle clasp) to travel longer, cut a longer piece. Insert one end of the smaller piece of tape it into the larger ring of the toggle clasp and wind it twice around the ring.
Sew very tight, for best conductivity.
Now insert one end of the longer piece of tape into the smaller ring of the toggle clasp. The tape surface must touch the inside of the ring.
Your potentiometer is now ready to be connected to a microcontroller!
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You also need to take into account the resistance of the conductive tape that you're using in the wiper as it will affect how your pot interacts with what you connect it to. The real circuit diagram of your widget is:
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Of course you need to take into consideration the resistance of the conductive tape of the wiper, but I didn't want to make too difficult and I decided not to mention it. Also, that is constant and doesn't change with wiper movement.