Reading a Potentiometer

Introduction
In this circuit youll work with a potentiometer.
A potentiometer is also known as a variable resistor. When powered with 5V, the middle pin
outputs a voltage between 0V and 5V, depending on the position of the knob on the
potentiometer. A potentiometer is a perfect demonstration of a variable voltage
divider circuit. The voltage is divided proportionate to the resistance between the middle pin
and the ground pin. In this circuit, youll learn how to use a potentiometer to control the
brightness of an LED.

Parts Needed
You will need the following parts:

1x Breadboard

1x Galileo

1x LED

1x 330 Resistor

6x Jumper Wires

1x Potentiometer

If you are following through all of the SIK Galileo tutorials we suggest using these parts:

Breadboard - Self-Adhesive (White)

P R T- 1 2 0 0 2
$4.95 $4.00
6

Jumper Wires Standard 7" M/M Pack of 30

P R T- 11 0 2 6

$4.95
9

LED - Assorted (20 pack)

COM-12062

$2.95
4

Trimpot 10K with Knob

COM-09806

$0.95
3

Resistor 330 Ohm 1/6 Watt PTH - 20 pack

C O M - 11 5 0 7

$0.95
1

Intel Galileo
D E V- 1 2 7 2 0

Retired
View the SparkFun Inventors Kit for Galileo wishlist, to see the parts needed to go through
the all the experiments.

Suggested Reading
Before continuing on with this experiment, we recommend you be familiar with the concepts
in the following tutorial:

Analog to Digital Conversion

Hardware Hookup
Ready to start hooking everything up? Check out the Fritzing diagram and hookup table
below, to see how everything is connected. Pay special attention to the components
markings indicating how to place it on the breadboard.Polarized components are
highlighted with a yellow warning triangle, in the table. Polarized components can only be
connected to a circuit in one direction.

Fritzing Diagram

Having a hard time seeing the circuit? Click on the Fritzing diagram to see a bigger image.

Hookup Table
Component

Breadboar
d

Breadboard

330 Resistor

j21

(-)

LED

h20 ( + )

h21 ( - )

Potentiometer

b6

b7

Jumper Wire

e6

(-)

Jumper Wire

Galileo

A0

e7

Breadboard

b8

Jumper Wire

e8

Jumper Wire

PIN 13

j20

Jumper Wire

5V

(+)

Jumper Wire

GND

(-)

Code To Note

(+)