instructables

How to Use Rotary Encoders and Interrupts With Your Arduino Projects

by taste_the_code

Many Arduino projects require a form of input from the end-user. This is usually done with buttons that you connect to
di erent input pins and based on what button is pressed, you can respond to that press in the code. In the usual
arrangement, we have buttons that trigger a menu, and then other buttons that increase or decrease a value or change
some of the project parameters.

However, if we want to have a more interesting interface that is also exible and simple to use, we can use a rotary
encoder and do all of the actions that way.

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Supplies:

Tools and materials used in the video:

Rotary Encoder Module - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9ACULH

Arduino Nano - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9ggYCR
DS1302 Module - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A2zwdZ
20x4 LCD Screen - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AVJfTh
Dupont jumper cables - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_APuvJv
Mini breadboard - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_ASSzVd

Alternative links:

Rotary Encoder Module - https://www.banggood.com/custlink/3DDYoOECO5

Arduino Nano - https://www.banggood.com/custlink/3GGyZlAOeL
DS1302 Module - https://www.banggood.com/custlink/KKDyOcm7Uv

How to Use Rotary Encoders and Interrupts With Your Arduino Projects: Page 1
 20x4 LCD Screen - https://www.banggood.com/custlink/Gvvho8Ewv9
Dupont jumper cables - https://www.banggood.com/custlink/KG3YjJGTqh
Mini breadboard - https://www.banggood.com/custlink/mG3yZasO60

https://youtu.be/_PfIrYKwTLo

Step 1: What Is a Rotary Encoder?

A rotary encoder is generally a position sensor that can position generates a di erent code that is sent to the
tell us the angular position of a rotating shaft. output.

There are two types of rotary encoders: absolute and
incremental.
With absolute rotary encoders, you know the angle at
which the encoder is at any given point in time as each
Incremental encoders, on the other hand, return the
number of increments that the shaft has turned without
knowing where it started and these are the ones that we
will focus on today.

How to Use Rotary Encoders and Interrupts With Your Arduino Projects: Page 2
Step 2: How Is It Different From a Potentiometer?
A rotary encoder is very similar to a potentiometer with
the main di erence being that there is no start and stop
positions. They can rotate inde nitely and can o er a
great output resolution, telling us the change in position
that happened since the turning started.
Step 3: How Does an Encoder Work?
Inside the encoder, there is a plate with contacts and
two output terminals marked as CLK and DT. The plate is
connected to the ground and both of the pins are pulled
high through resistors. When the plate turns, it connects
the output pins to the ground in a particular order,
generating signals that are shifted 90 degrees from each
other.
Depending on the direction that the encoder is turned
How to Use Rotary Encoders and Interrupts With Your Arduino Projects: Page 3
Contrary to this, potentiometers usually turn only 3/4 of
a circle and are usually best suited for situations where
we need to know the exact angle at which the
potentiometer is.
to, the order at which the pins are switched low is also
reversed so we can identify the direction from that.
One of the pins on the encoder is called primary and is
marked as CLK. This pin will go through the cycle of
going high and back to low with each rotational click on
the encoder. Depending on the direction of the rotation,
DT will be turned low before or after CLK.
Step 4: Rotary Encoder Pinout

A rotary encoder module usually has 5 pins. We have the open switch.
usual VCC and GND, where we connect the input
voltage, and then we have the CLK and DT pins which This switch can be used as any other momentary switch
are the output signals from the encoder. and I have an entire video on switches if you want to
take a look.
Very often, a rotary encoder has a 5th pin (SW) that is
connected to the ground through the built-in normally

Step 5: Connecting the Encoder to Arduino

How to Use Rotary Encoders and Interrupts With Your Arduino Projects: Page 4
The encoder can basically be connected to any input
pins on the Arduino but there are a few caveats that we
need to be aware of for the method of reading it.
The encoder state can be read with the Arduino in one
of two ways, either with pooling or with interrupts.
If we choose to read the encoder with pooling, we need
to read the values on the CLK and DT pins on each cycle
of the code, and depending on the complexity of the
project, the Arduino might be busy doing some other
work while the encoder is turned.
If that happens, then we might miss the change of the
encoder and not react to it at all since we were busy
doing something else when the encoder was turned.
Step 6: Arduino Code
How to Use Rotary Encoders and Interrupts With Your Arduino Projects: Page 5
To mitigate this, it is recommended that we connect the
encoder using the interrupt pins on the Arduino. I've
explained interrupts in another video in great detail but
basically, when we use interrupts, the Arduino will stop
its current execution and handle the reading of the
rotary encoder instead.
On the Arduino Uno or Nano, we have two interrupts
available for use on pins 2 and 3 and it is best if the
encoder is connected to both of them. However, if the
interrupt pins are required for some other inputs as well,
as the switch on the encoder, we can only use one of
them and connect DT to the interrupt pin.
This won't be ideal but it will be a lot better than just
pooling the encoder state.
To program the Arduino we will use a dedicated library
called Encoder that I'll link in the description. You can
also install it directly from the library manager on the
Arduino IDE.
This library can work with multiple encoders at a time,
and depending on the capabilities of the used pins on
the microcontroller, it will either use interrupts or it will
default to just pooling the input values.
At the beginning of the sketch, we rst include the
library and we de ne the encoder object with the pins
that we have the encoder connected to. In my case, I
choose to use pins 3 and 4, where only pin 3 has
interrupt capabilities.
I chose to use just one interrupt because I wanted to
have pin 2 available with the second interrupt so I can
also connect the switch of the encoder to it.
To do this, in the setup function, we rst de ne pin 2 as
an input using the internal pull-up resistor to keep the
by 2.
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FPI/KHTP/KOEBW072/FPIKHTPKOEBW072.ino
Step 7: Next Steps
Since we now know how to interface the encoder, I went
ahead and integrated this encoder with the other
project that I'm working on where we so far have the
DS1302 real-time clock and the 20x4 LCD screen
attached.
When the encoder is turned, the updated position value
How to Use Rotary Encoders and Interrupts With Your Arduino Projects: Page 6
pin high and we then use the attachInterupt function to
set it so it executes the handleSwitch function on the
rising edge of the signal. This way, the handleSwitch
function will be called every time when we release the
switch on the rotary encoder.
Inside the loop function, we rst read the position of the
rotary encoder, and we compare this value with the
value that we have for the previous position. If the two
are di erent, we write the newly read value as the old
position and display it to the serial monitor.
When the encoder is turned, there are hard stops or
clicks that the shaft stops at. In my case, there are 30
such stops in a full circle but since the encoder will
change the values of both the pins in one such click, the
value is incremented by two when read from the
encoder.
To mitigate this and count every click once, we can
simply choose to update the new position value only at
the even positions and display the position value divided
Download
is written to the LCD screen and I plan to use this later
on so I can adjust di erent values in the nal project.
If you are interested in seeing this then be sure to
subscribe to the channel, share this Instructable with
your friends and I'll see you all in the next one.
 Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F53/49RS/KOEBW0AJ/F5349RSKOEBW0AJ.ino

How to Use Rotary Encoders and Interrupts With Your Arduino Projects: Page 7