it was not my intent to say that they are bad but i relized that every of the 17 encoder has an other behavior…the most are nearly equal with only minimal differences but some are realy differnt from the others…they are turning like they have grease inside the encoder. the time i needed for soldering was on every encoder equaly. I think because of my work i do have nearly professional solder skills but it could also be possible that some tolerances in the encoder or solderingtime evoke this behavior. But as i said some posts before i will buy a lot of encoders at mouser next months so that i will be shure that i buy good one.
With regard to the MBSeqv4 encoders. I also experienced the different “feel” for each of the 16 encoders. Some were hard, some were soft and the detent “click” seemed to vary in how solid/loose it feels.
I found that their stiffness was a factor of how far down the knob on the encoder is pushed. I think if you set them down too far you can get varying levels of friction between the knob and control surface causing them to feel stiffer than they are (specially if the knob isn’t perfectly round and/or parallel to the control surface). Once I played with mine and moved the stiff ones up a fraction from the control surface they all became much more consistent, easy to turn, with mostly the same feel.
Might be worth seeing if those results can be replicated. I always lubricate the insides of the knobs before putting them on the encoders so they aren’t too hard to readjust (or get off if you need too), as some fit way too snug.
Since doing this the knobs have been much more comfortable to use and differences is quality aren’t as obvious.
Cheers,
Arkay.
P.S. This could also be relevant. I bought my MB6582 encoders from mouser, all bourns type, and had no end of trouble with the entire batch. Don’t know why but they would skip endlessly, some worse than others, and I ended up having to desolder the lot and replace them.
I then purchased the ones Hawkeye recommended in his build thread (I think they were ALPS encoders). There was a very clear and obvious difference in the quality of the 2 with the ALPS feeling much more solid and consistent. Having only used those 2 differing types I can say that I’d be wary of the bourns, particularly if removing the detents.
That being said I didn’t have any similar issues with the ones Tim supplies with the MBSeq kit, and I’m sure they are the same. But the detents are not removed in the MBSeqv4 build so perhaps as long as you don’t open them you’re in good shape.
I’ve since decided that I prefer the detent anyway, even in the MB6582, as ilmenator suggest above, the input is digital and quantized. For me the detents add more clearly defined graduations for whatever element you’re adjusting. It also makes troubleshooting encoder types much easier if the encoder still has the detent installed. When you can’t feel the click it’s very hard to see/feel when the bit pattern is changing when setting the encoder type in code (if you ever need to).
as i red your post about the brightness of the 5x2 LEDs i smashed my hands together over my head…because i would like to order 5x2 LEDs at mouser. but i looked in your good and bad LED list and saw that the one you used from mouser are different. the one i found is thisone:
Some days ago I replied to a (really valid) question from Fairlightiii:
I’m a bit unsure if the mcd value specified by Reichelt is the correct one.
E.g. in the catalog the low-cost LEDs are specified with 8-32 mcd, but at the website the red one with 2,5 mcd
The standard LEDs are specified with 1,3 - 5 mcd, and at the website the red one with 1,3 mcd
Really confusing… so, is it a typo, and actually the low-cost LED has around 25 mcd?
So - recommended value is now 10 or higher - and if they are 25 mcd, then even better!
okay then the choice is much easier for me, cause then i only order the red one with 25mcd and take the 2x5 with 3,7mcd out of my orderlist. that saves a little money…i red the build guide for the MB6582 written by hawkeye…he wrote something about the encoders and as you can see i have documented some problems with the bours encoder here in that thread. so i decided to take hawkeyes prefered encoders onto my orderlist and they are realy much expensiver and an order of 120 pieces is a lot of money. ther it is good to save money at the LEDs side!
Wonder if I dare order 130 of those Bourns encoders, or if I should look at importing 100 plus Soundwell encoders with switch myself? The 16mm ALPS encoders are obsolete, there is some remaining stock, but none with a switch as far as I can tell.
If I had the time it would be interesting to evaluate a few different encoders and set up a bulk. Then again, getting the whole load from Mouser is convenient.
Also, looking at 2x5mm LEDs at Mouser, there seem to be a lot of choice around 5 and 8mcd. There’s also an 80mcd red model I guess you could use if you employ serious resistors (1k or more). Hmm…
Also, looking at 2x5mm LEDs at Mouser, there seem to be a lot of choice around 5 and 8mcd. There’s also an 80mcd red model I guess you could use if you employ serious resistors (1k or more). Hmm…
The other parameter to look at besides mcd is view angle. The LEDs with unreasonably high luminous intensity tend to have narrow view angles, which are not so good for control surfaces. The ones TK identified had 2.5mcd at a very wide 140deg. The one’s Ive ordered from Futurlec are 6mcd but only 90deg (should be wide enough). Its always a good idea to test new kinds of LEDs in-circuit when choosing a limiting resistor before committing to a lot of soldering.
The Kingbright WP113SRDT come with a 110deg viewing angle. OK so they’re not super wide, but not extremely narrow either. Going to look further, I could always go for 3mm round LEDs since there’s a larger choice but it takes some pondering this.
I guess that the mcd value is much higher, therefore I recommend at least 10 mcd (and I’m very interested on the outcome with different LEDs)
Whoops!
I just ordered 1050 ($50) of 90deg 6mcd LEDs from Futurlec. I’ll be loading the ULN2803 drivers and I’ll make sure to test with a lower series resistor before soldering my PCB’s.
(at least) 4 modules can be chained without termination, additional buffers or any other measures.
And they are scanned without any robustness issues!
Power consumption: ca. 130 mA per module (for both LED types I’m using)
Together with the MBHP_CORE_LPC17 module + backlit LCD (200 mA) this results into ca. 720 mA -> the construction can still be powered from a USB hub with 1A PSU
