I like it! Lots of fun potential. I've created a "translated" and simplified datasheet. Scruffy, but, I hope, useful... wiring etc, a page at SheepdogGuides.com

Someone said you needed to use drivers for the LEDs... I had usable brightness at 2mA with a 10k resistor, 5v Vcc. Just things mentioned elsewhere in these comments... but in diagram form, which I hope is easy to use.

Someone said the breakout board had been discontinued. Maybe an old one was, but as of 24 Mar 18, there was one... suitable for either the RG or the RGB encoder. Part ID: BOB-1172. Buy one! $3 well spent! (8 pins, and NOT 0.1" spacing.)

I struggled with this encoder for a couple of days, but in the end I really like it. It just needs debouncing and good documentation. I made a small and simple PCB that contains resistors and caps this encoder needs: github.com/nvladimus/ArduinoRotaryEncoderPCB

Happy encoding!

I'd like to see the sketch and wiring diagram from your product video.

The datasheet doesn't say which pin goes to what, so here you go: The side with 3 pins is the rotary encoder output - central pin looks to be common. The easiest way to use this with an arduino is to connect common to ground, and then use the Arduino inputs in pull-up mode.

The LEDs and central button are interfaced using the side with 5 pins. With the shaft facing away from you, looking at the bottom of the device, with the 5-pin side on the top and 3-pin side on the bottom, the pins are: Common (+5v), Blue, Button, Green, Red. Pressing the shaft button shorts the +5v common and the center pin. There are no internal resistors, so be sure to use one on each of the 3 LED pins. Use a 120ohm (or higher) resistor on the red, and a 68ohm (or higher) resistor on the other two, if you're using 5v.

It's a bit misleading that 4th picture with the breakout board, as that has only the 4 pins of the Red/Green rotary encoder. And on its product page, that refers to THE rotary encoder, not specifically the RG one. One could easily be confused by this and order 2 incompatible items. That said, can't wait for the RGB rotary breakout board.

This (and its right-angle brother) outputs quadrature, not Gray code. (And capitalize "Gray", since it's named after a person, Frank Gray.)

Love the data sheet: "for microscopic current circuits used in electronic equipment"!

Do these have a 'Click' feeling when turned? because these COM-10596 don't...?

These are fun encoders. IMO, you should clarify the description to say the "24 Pulses per Rotation" means 24 full encoder cycles. Each "click" of the detent will transition the encoder through a full cycle of four transitions. There are 96 transitions per rotation (as Mayo2017 mentioned earlier).

Since there are four transitions per detent click, pressing the button can cause the encoder to fluctuate a couple of transitions.

This encoder seems to be nothing but trouble. Has anyone figured out how to use the Due's hardware quadrature decoding?

After reading the reviews, I was a little skeptical of the quality I would get, however I haven't found anything that offers the exact same product as this. So I ordered 2, incase one didn't work. Well after spending hours trying to figure out why one wasn't working, I looked at the second one to find that it wouldn't work either. The switch (rotary encoder), in the resting position, would never make contact with the common pin (labeled C I believe in the datasheet). While rotating, the outputs (A and B) would close to the common ( C ) as they should (pre the datasheet), but NEVER would rest where they were supposed to. After taking them both apart, it seems that the divots that are supposed to hold the shaft in position are misaligned. So when you let go and the shaft "clicks" to a spot, it is always open (doesn't make contact). I seriously doubt this is how it is supposed to operate! To fix it (so to speak) I flipped the copper sheet around that makes the shaft stay (and click) to each divot. Now it spins smoothly AND works like it's supposed to! I can't believe how cheap this was made! So keep in mind that this is junk and you'll have to fix it yourself.

P.S. I would have returned it on the spot, but I already built my enclosure to the dimensions for this switch and like I said, nothing I have found fits as a replacement.

Bad quality encoders received. I don't know where to post this, so I add a comment. I have seen that SparkFun moderators often post answers and/or hints to user comments/questions. Looking forward for this.

I'm sorry to say this, but the encoders you sent me are of poor quality. The "rest position" of the encoders is actually connecting one of the outputs to the common if resting in a 120-degrees area (maybe more). I state that I did not subject the encoders to any mechanical factors except when adding the clear plastic knob on top of them (extreme care is taken, I was never even close to the 5kgf in the datasheet).

The encoders seem to be faulty. I will test the remaining 3 encoders this afternoon and keep you updated with the results. I noticed this problem yesterday late-evening while struggling with Gray debouncing inside the code. For two thirds of the rotation the algorithm worked but for one third it didn't. I have also tested the encoders against two LEDs, that is how I noticed the awkward "rest position"... I only tested 2 encoders (of the 5 I bought last month) and both seem to have the same problem. I dismantled one of the two faulty encoders but I saw no problem; I've put it back and it works the same. Still, maybe the leads are miss-aligned, my eye-meter isn't micrometer-accurate. The second faulty encoder was not dismantled but it behaves the same.

Any hint?

Thanks, ro0ter

See it in Action

Hi, guys- Anyone have an ETA on this unit? Thanks!

Can you post the wiring diagram and arduino code for the RGB Rotary encoder that you show in the Product Showcase video, please?

Looks to be a chinese knock-off of the Bourns PEL12T: http://www.bourns.com/data/global/pdfs/PEL12T.pdf.

Even the LED voltage and current table is identical.

Typical.. the week after I order two of the "Bi-Colour" ones, you come out with this.. (sigh).

Can we get a wiring digram for the RGB pins? A wiring diagram from that matches the video would be great. Someone posted we need to use a NPN for them. I went straight to the Arduino via 270 Ohm measure 5 volts but still know light. Put 5V from my bench power supply to another one (I bought three) and heard a pop. I have never used an RGB led but it seems pretty straight forward. I am using the breakout board and agree it covers all but one row on breadboard so I put some right angle headers on the extra ABC (encoder side) so I could use the one row on my breadboard for the RGB.

Hello everyone,

can anyone tell me how to use the switch of this Rotory Encoder? What do i have to connect and do i need a resistor? Would really appreciate any help i can get. Thanks in advance!

Please have pity and grace

I want to use this with an Arduino Pro Mini 3.3v - Can I just connect the RGB pins to Arduino Pro Mini. - If not what do I need, and how do I connect it.

Thank you so much in advance.

Great product and work for me well, but is any chance to get waterproof version or at least IP55?

the datasheet for both rgb rotary encoders now goes to a 404 error.. it makes checking the pinout problematic.

Wish I had tested these when I first bought them a couple months ago. It seems the detents in the shaft are misaligned relative to the actual switch contacts. Finally broke them out for a project I was waiting to start, and I ran into the same issue as another commenter did. It wouldn't change state and stay in a given state - the contacts stayed open on any given detent.

After reversing the detent spring inside to let it free-wheel, I can use it normally, but without detents. If I reenable the detents, it stops working... only thing I can think of is that the detents aren't aligned properly. Wish I had tested months ago before putting it in the bin. Shame because they're gorgeous when lit up with a nice knob on tip.

I figured out a way to use this (or any other quadrature/2-bit Gray code encoder) with an Arduino (or other controller). No interrupts, and no switch bounce issues. Just take an old PS/2 ball mouse (NOT optical), open it up, and replace the phototransistor from the optical encoder wheel with three wires going to the A-B-C terminals. You can also replace the left/right mouse button with the switch on this encoder. For some example code, go to http://playground.arduino.cc/ComponentLib/Ps2mouse for a description and library of how to hook up a PS/2 mouse to your Arduino. The mouse controller IC takes care of debouncing, direction sensing, and counting steps between queries. It will also allow you to hook up two encoders (three if the mouse has a scroll wheel) simultaneously.

I'll add to the complaints of poor quality - ordered 2, the first one is now shorting out my arduino. I'll have to try the second; I may just have to order a better unit from mouser.

I had similar problem as the other users and didn't manage to use this encoder by using libraries or example code. After a few nights failing to implement existent code I decided to go reverse engineering and figure out what kind of output this thing was giving, and I came out with this code that is working nice with all the units I have (a bought a bunch of them with ringcoder breakouts and everything). This code adds or subtracts from encoderPosition every time the encoder reachs a detent. It will still fail to detect 1% of the times you reach a detent. I used port 52 and 53 since I'm testing this on Arduino DUE (all pins can be used as interrupts), but if you are using other arduinos you should use external interrupt pins.

int aPin = 52; //connected to the A port
int bPin = 53; //connected to the B port

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);

  pinMode(aPin, INPUT); 
  digitalWrite(aPin, HIGH); //pulled-up
  pinMode(bPin, INPUT);
  digitalWrite(bPin, HIGH); //pulled-up

  noInterrupts();
  attachInterrupt(aPin, readEncoder, CHANGE);
  attachInterrupt(bPin, readEncoder, CHANGE);
  interrupts();

}

signed int encoderPosition; 

volatile char rotaryData = 0x0;

void readEncoder()
{
  noInterrupts();

  char newData=digitalRead(aPin)

I just received this interesting little doodad, I'm using it with a Teensy 3.0 and here is some demo Code I wrote for it. Maybe it can help some others out. I haven't had the issue with it that others have been seeing described as poor build quality. Also, the comment from Member #333036 was pretty spot on as far as pin out. I used the encoder library from PJRC found here example which handles this device well. It does however increment +-4 every tick of the detent so just be careful when coding.

#include 

Encoder encoder(A5, A4); //These 2 pins are A and B of the encoder side, C is connected to ground

const int redPin =  10; 
const int greenPin =  A8;
const int bluePin =  9;
volatile boolean encoder_button = false;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(A3, INPUT);
  pinMode(redPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(greenPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(bluePin, OUTPUT);
  attachInterrupt(A3, buttonPush, CHANGE);
}

void loop() {
  int32_t value;
  value = encoder.read();
    Serial.print("value = ");
    Serial.println(value);

  if (Serial.available()) {
    Serial.read();
    Serial.println("Reset Encoder to Zero");
    encoder.write(0);
  }
  if(encoder_button)
  {
    for(int i=0; i< 20; i++) //Careful with this if you or a friend has epilepsy 
    {
      setColor(255, 255, 255);
      delay(10);
      setColor(0, 0, 0);
      delay(100);
    }
    encoder_button = false;
    Serial.println("Button Pushed");
  }
  else
  {
    setColor(value,0,0);
    delay(1000);  
    setColor(0,value,0);
    delay(1000);
    setColor(0,0,value);
    delay(1000);
  }
}

void buttonPush()
{
  encoder_button = true;
}

void setColor(int red, int green, int blue)
{
  analogWrite(redPin, red);
  analogWrite(greenPin, green);
  analogWrite(bluePin, blue);  
}

I ordered some of these the other day, and what I received today is not what is described here. The shaft has no threads and is much smaller than the included mounting nut and washer, so they are basically useless, as I cannot panel mount them. Further, they do not 'click' as you rotate them, it is just a smooth rotation. The part number on the bags is as listed on this page. Rather frustrating, I was in the middle of a project with my daughter and needed them, now we're going to have to wait.

Just wanted to mention that you can easily remove the detents on these encoders. Just open the 4 metal legs, take it apart and flip the copper spacer/detents ring. You might want to flatten it a bit for best results.

These are common CATHODE, not common anode.

As such you can use single resistor on the common side for all three LEDs

According to the datasheet, it looks as if this is a QUADRATURE output encoder, not GRAY CODE.

Is this so? Or does it actually put out GRAY CODE as it says in the description?

If so, how does it put out 24 pulses with four pins?

Am I missing something.

Confused in Saint Paul

Hello all, has anyone code like the product video using a 20m2 picaxe? I've goggled until my fingers can't goggle anymore.

Curt

I'm getting around 4 interruption per click, is it something related to what they call "chattering" on the datasheet ?

Hi all I got two of these and started designing something in SketchUp so I thought I'd share this model that I created for it. SketchUP COM-10982 Model

Could you specify that this product is not breadboard friendly? apparently you only specify this when you have a breakout board for it....

Any ETA on when these will be available again?

The button shorts the common anode of the LEDs to th center pin of the five pin group.

Connect the center pin to your uC with a pull-down resister to monitor its position.

can anyone give me some info on how to debounce the push button in this?

Does anyone have a wiring diagram or tutorial on how to get the LEDs on this thing to work? Thanks

Very nice :)

Pity they are mechanical instead of optical :(

Are you making a break-out board for this part, and is it going to have holes for pins that are aligned on both sides so it fits square in a breadboard or protoboard? (not like the break-out for the red/green illuminated rotary encoder where the holes are not aligned).

More importantly, is that really the datasheet for this part? No mention of a switch or LEDS, just the two quadrature switches.

So is this an encoder or a potentiometer? "Look below for the clear knob that goes with this potentiometer." Same thing on the right-angled version's page. Now, I don't know if you also carry an illuminated potentiometer, but otherwise I would suggest also changing the "Clear Plastic Knob" product page, which talks about an illuminated pot.