Posts with «rotary encoder» label

Remote shutter module uses LCD screen for setup

Here’s a full-featured remote shutter project which [Pixel-K] just finished. It seems that he’s interested in taking time-lapse images of the cosmos. Since astrophotography happens outside at night, this presented some special design considerations. He wanted something that he could configure in the dark without zapping his night-vision too much. He also wanted it to be easily configured with a pair of gloves on.

The project enclosure is a 4x AA battery box. He removed the partitions between each cell, leaving plenty of room for the guts. Inside you’ll find a lithium battery and a micro-USB recharger board. It powers the Arduino mini pro which drives the 1.8″ LCD screen and actuates the optoisolator which is responsible for triggering the camera. On the right you can see the clear knob of the clickable rotary encoder. All of the user settings are chosen and selected using just this one knob.

He’s already tried it out on a 6-hour shoot and had no battery life problems or other issues.


Filed under: digital cameras hacks
Hack a Day 31 May 01:01
arduino  digital cameras hacks  lcd  optoisolator  remote trigger  rotary encoder  

Not all rotary encoders are created equal...

I had a hell of a time getting the (F)Light Suit remote control to work with the Modern Device LCD117 backpack and inexpensive BI EN11-HSM1AF15 rotary encoders. It turned out that I was having two issues:
  1. The LCD117 was getting its updating commands too quickly, so chose to reset instead of display, and
  2. the rotary encoders make contact so quickly when stepping up or down, my debounced code for bigger rotary encoders with more even click timing wasn't working.
Preventing the LCD117 from updating too quickly solved the first problem, and redoing the rotary encoder code from scratch solved the second problem. I'll post code later when the project is complete, but I based it on Max Wolf's very simple first example from the Arduino Playground rotary encoder page. The interrupt-based examples are too cryptic and (I think) unnecessary in a sketch that loops at a few KHz, which all of my sketches run at.
Jeff's Arduino Blog 11 Aug 19:19
delay  flight suit  lcd117  rotary encoder