Sensors / Touch

FSRs are sensors that allow you to detect physical pressure, squeezing and weight. They are simple to use and low cost. This sensor is a Interlink model 402 FSR with 1/2 diameter sensing region. FSR's are basically a resistor that changes its resistive value (in ohms Ω) depending on how much its pressed. These sensors are fairly low cost, and easy to use but they're rarely accurate. They also vary some from sensor to sensor perhaps...

This rotary encoder is the best of the best, its a high quality 24-pulse encoder, with detents and a nice feel. It is panel mountable for placement in a box, or you can plug it into a breadboard (just cut/bend the two mechanical side tabs.) We also include a nice soft-touch knob with an arrow in it, fits perfectly and looks great. This encoder also has a push-button built into it so you can press onto the knob to close a separate switch. One...

This sensor can detect flexing or bending in one direction. They were popularized by being used in the Nintendo PowerGlove as a gaming interface. These sensors are easy to use, they are basically resistors that change value based on how much they're flexed. If they're unflexed, the resistance is about ~10KΩ. When flexed all the way the resistance rises to ~20KΩ. They're pretty similar to FSRs so following this...

FSRs are sensors that allow you to detect physical pressure, squeezing and weight. They are simple to use and low cost. This sensor is a Interlink model 406 FSR with a 38mm square sensing region. Note that this sensor can't detect where on the square you pressed (for that, check out our ribbon soft pots or capacitive touch pad ). FSRs are basically a resistor that changes its resistive value (in ohms Ω) depending on how much its...

This mini-kit makes it easy to mount a PSP/Xbox-like thumb joystick to your project. The thumbstick is an analog joystick - more accurate and sensitive than just 'directional' joysticks - with a 'press in to select' button. Since it's analog, you'll need two analog reading pins on your microcontroller to determine X and Y. Having an extra digital input will let you read the switch. The pack comes in three parts - the...

Punch in your secret key into this numeric matrix keypad. This keypad has 12 buttons, arranged in a telephone-line 3x4 grid. It's made of a thin, flexible membrane material with an adhesive backing (just remove the paper) so you can attach it to nearly anything. The keys are connected into a matrix, so you only need 7 microcontroller pins (3-columns and 4-rows) to scan through the pad. Check the tutorials tab for links to an Arduino library...

This breakout board is the simplest way to create a project with a single "momentary" capacitive touch sensor. No microcontroller is required here - just power with 1.8 to 5.5VDC and touch the pad to activate the sensor. When a capacitive load is detected (e.g. a person touches the sensor-pad area) the red LED lights up and the output pin goes high. You can also solder a wire to the middle pad and create your own capacitive pad if the...

This sensor can detect flexing or bending in one direction. They were popularized by being used in the Nintendo PowerGlove as a gaming interface. These sensors are easy to use, they are basically resistors that change value based on how much their flexed. If they're unflexed, the resistance is about ~25KΩ. When flexed all the way the resistance rises to ~100KΩ. They're pretty similar to FSRs so following this tutorial will...

This breakout board is the simplest way to create a project with mutiple capacitive touch sensors. No microcontroller is required here - just power with 1.8 to 5.5VDC and connect up to 5 conductive pads to the 5 left-hand pins. When a capacitive load is detected (e.g. a person touches one of the conductive contacts) the corresponding LED on the right lights up and the output pin goes low. You can use this to update an existing normal-button...

Add lots of touch sensors to your next microcontroller project with this easy-to-use 8-channel capacitive touch sensor breakout board, starring the CAP1188. This chip can handle up to 8 individual touch pads, and has a very nice feature that makes it stand out for us: it will light up the 8 onboard LEDs when the matching touch sensor fires to help you debug your sensor setup. The CAP1188 has support for both I2C and SPI, so it easy to use with...

Manufactured by Spectra Symbol, these are nice little ribbon controllers (also known as 'soft potentiometers') with an adhesive backing. There is a nominal 10K resistance across the two outer leads. The middle pin resistance with respect to either of the outer pins changes depending on where on the strip one presses. When no pressure is applied, the middle pin floats, so be sure to use some sort of weak pullup, such as 100K ohm. To use...

This breakout board is the simplest way to create a project with a single "toggle" capacitive touch sensor. No microcontroller is required here - just power with 1.8 to 5.5VDC and touch the pad to activate the sensor. This sensor is a toggle output type: touch-on then touch-off. That means that when a capacitive load is detected (e.g. a person touches the sensor-pad area) the red LED will alternate turning off and the output pin will...

Add lots of touch sensors to your next microcontroller project with this easy-to-use 12-channel capacitive touch sensor breakout board, starring the MPR121. This chip can handle up to 12 individual touchpads. The MPR121 has support for only I2C, which can be implemented with nearly any microcontroller. You can select one of 4 addresses with the ADDR pin, for a total of 48 capacitive touch pads on one I2C 2-wire bus. Using this chip is a lot...

FSRs are sensors that allow you to detect physical pressure, squeezing and weight. They are simple to use and low cost. This sensor is a Interlink model 408 FSR with a massive 1/4-inch x 24-inch sensing region. You can press anywhere along the strip and the pressure will be recognized. Note that this sensor can't detect where on the strip you pressed (for that, check out our ribbon soft pots). FSRs are basically a resistor that changes its...

Our 2-Axis Joystick can be used to add analog input to your next project. The 2-Axis Joystick contains two independent potentiometers (one per axis) for reporting the joystick's position, with wiring options for voltage or resistance outputs. The modular form-factor allows you to plug the 2-Axis Joystick directly into a breadboard for easy prototyping. The 2-Axis Joystick includes spring auto return to center and a comfortable cup-type knob....

Punch in your secret key into this numeric membrane keypad. This keypad has 4 buttons, and since every key has its own wire line, no matrix code is required - just treat these like every day switches. The membrane is soft and has a removable paper backing to expose a strong adhesive so you can stick this on an enclosure and feed the cable through a slot. Its a simple keypad but that's why we like it. We include a 5-pin extra-long header...

Want to poke at your projects? This resistive touch screen can be used with a stylus or fingertip and is easy to use with a microcontroller. You can put it over a paper overlay for a touch control panel or attach it to an LCD to DIY a touch-activated display. 2.45" x 3" (62mm x 76mm) overall dimensions, 1.2mm thick3.7" diagonal active area, 95mm600 ohms across X pins, 300 ohms across Y pins4 wire resistive display, on a 1.0mm...

Add a cool touch interface with your project with this microcontroller-friendly track-pad. We found an easy to use PS/2 track-pad that is easy to use and interface with. This track-pad is two-in-one: you can use it either in relative 'mouse mode', where it spit out finger movements as they change OR you can put it into 'tablet mode', where it give the absolute X and Y location of the point being touched. It will also return Z...

Your friends probably tell you that you are "good with your hands," but now you can also be good with your feet! This foot switch is made of rubbery plastic, is plenty strong to put up with any amount of stomping, and contains a snap switch. You can use the switch as either a "normally open" or "normally closed" type. Attached to the switch is a 2 meter long cable so you can wire it directly to your project.

Add a tiny joystick to your project with this PSP thumbstick. This is a replacement component for PSP1000's, but we think they'd make for a great little joystick/thumbstick add-on for a wearable, or portable project. The joystick is a 'self-centering' analog-type. That means it basically acts like two 10K potentiometers, one for up/down and another for left/right. Connect one the VCC pin to your power supply (3 or 5V is best) and...

This is a generic Wii Nunchuck controller, we haven't tried it with a Wii but it does work great with the Video Game shield, and all the microcontroller code we tried. May come in white or black. We suggest getting a Nunchucky breakout board if you want to use this with an electronics project. There's a 3-axis accelerometer inside as well as a resistive 2-axis joystick and two buttons. You can grab the data over two i2c data lines....

Hey, Jenny, I've got your number! And I'm going to dial 867-5309 into this very nice phone-style matrix keypad. This keypad has 12 buttons, arranged in a telephone-line 3x4 grid. It's made of plastic with sturdy plastic buttons. The keys are connected to a matrix so you only need 7 microcontroller pins (3-columns and 4-rows) to scan through the pad.  It's basically a sturdier version of our Membrane 3x4 Matrix Keypad and...

This is really the fanciest, best feeling knob we've ever seen. Using this knob sort of reminded us of driving along the Amalfi coast in a perfectly restored '65 Porsche - meaning we really, really liked it.  We hand selected the best knobs for your project in different sizes and varieties.  This one's the Solid Machined Metal Knob - 1" . It has a nice, weighted feel that spins easily and doesn't...

This membrane keypad has a single key, but it does have an embedded surface-mount red LED installed. The flex cable is also extra-long, so we can think of a lot of wearable and portable projects that would use this sort of switch and have an LED as feedback (say, to indicate that an action is occuring or the power is on). Since the keypad is soft plastic, it can be sewn with needle and thread. The back of the pad has a removable paper cover that...

This slim and modern potentiometer is small and compact, yet looks good and has a nice feel. We hand selected the best knobs for your project in different sizes and varieties.  This one is the Slim Metal Knob 10mm diameter x 10mm Tall (T18 Splines). It's a brushed aluminum knob with a shiny black (anodized?) coating.  It kind of looks like the type of knob you'd find in a very fancy, modern kitchen.  There's a...

Round and round it goes, this nice round "scrubber" knob is the perfect mate to a rotary encoder.  It's got a wide 34.7mm diameter with a nice finger groove on its face so it's easy to turn with just one finger.  It works best with our rotary encoder, just snap it on and away you go. Please note: this knob won't work with our potentiometers which have T18 spline shafts! While rotary encoders look similar to...

Oh say can you see By the knob's early light... Sorry - we thought that was clever.  And while it wasn't really, this potentiometer knob definitely is.  It's a 'soft touch' T18 knob that works great with our Panel Mount 10K, Panel Mount 1K, and Panel Mount 100K potentiometers.  The knob is designed to set directly on the potentiometer's ridges so it's an easy & secure fit. It has a nice...

This slim and modern potentiometer is small and compact, yet looks good and has a nice feel. We hand selected the best knobs for your project in different sizes and varieties.  This one is the Slim Metal Knob 10mm diameter x 15mm Tall (T18 Splines). It's a brushed aluminum knob with a shiny black (anodized?) coating.  It kind of looks like the type of knob you'd find in a very fancy, modern kitchen.  There's a...

Oh say can you see By the knob's early light... Sorry - we thought that was clever.  And while it wasn't really, this potentiometer knob definitely is.  It's a 'soft touch' T18 knob that works great with our Panel Mount 10K, Panel Mount 1K, and Panel Mount 100K potentiometers.  The knob is designed to set directly on the potentiometer's ridges so it's an easy & secure fit. It has a nice...

Oh say can you see By the knob's early light... Sorry - we thought that was clever.  And while it wasn't really, this potentiometer knob definitely is.  It's a 'soft touch' T18 knob that works great with our Panel Mount 10K, Panel Mount 1K, and Panel Mount 100K potentiometers.  The knob is designed to set directly on the potentiometer's ridges so it's an easy & secure fit. It has a nice...

Most low cost soil sensors are resistive style, where there's two prongs and the sensor measures the conductivity between the two. These work OK at first, but eventually start to oxidize because of the exposed metal. Even if they're gold plated! The resistivity measurement goes up and up, so you constantly have to re-calibrate your code. Also, resistive measurements don't always work in loose soil. This design is superior with a...

This SMT 5-Directional Joystick  is an intuitive way to add 5 buttons worth of interfacing with a single component. Inside are 5 switches: left, right, up, down, and 'select' (pressing down), all with a common ground pin. It's sturdy metal with 6 SMT mounting tabs that provide both electrical and mechanical stability. With enough good solder, it's  really  hard to rip these off a PCB. There's two positioning...

Here's a new addition to our rotary-potentiometer-knob family. This knob has a nice soft-touch feel with an arrow on it, and its much 'slimmer' than the skirted knob we have been using, so good for compact layouts. Note: This is just the knob. We have a breadboard-friendly rotary encoder here. Rotary encoders are useful as rotation sensors or selectors and look similar to potentiometers. However, they are not like potentiometers...

When you need a lot of options, you need a Mini 8-Way Rotary Selector Switch . This is basically a single-pole to 8-throw switch. As you rotate the knob around, the middle pin will make contact with each of the outer pins. Rotary switches are very simple to use and are also nice and compact. This one is easy to panel mount, thanks to the included washer and hex nut. It has a T18-size shaft so you can pick one of our T18 knobs to go with it for...

Sometimes a simple analog control device can be the perfect tactile solution for your project, but they can be surprisingly hard to come by. Luckily we've got a low cost, quality Mini 2-Axis Analog Thumbstick to fulfill your directional analog input needs! This is a small joystick with a black rocker cap, similar to the PSP joysticks. The joystick is a 'self-centering' analog-type. It is comprised of two 10KΩ...

A new tiny squishy delight! This Black Rubber Joystick Nubbin Cap is the perfect add-on to any of your projects with a 5-way navigation joystick, like our Adafruit Mini Color TFT with Joystick FeatherWing or Adafruit 128x64 OLED Bonnet for Raspberry Pi. Fits perfectly on classic 5-way navigation joysticks like this one. It's solid, sturdy, and presses on firmly. We especially dig the cute directional etching. Pop it onto a...

Add lots of touch sensors to your next microcontroller project with this easy-to-use 12-channel capacitive touch sensor breakout board, starring the MPR121. This chip can handle up to 12 individual touchpads with plug-and-play STEMMA QT connector and large alligator/croc-clip friendly pads, its a no-solder solution to capacitive touch sensing. The MPR121 has support for reading data over I2C, which can be implemented with nearly any...

Are you itching for an easy way to mount a PSP-like thumb joystick to your project? This Analog Mini Thumbstick Breakout Board  will help you do just that! This is a neat little PCB, on which you can mount a joystick/thumbstick -- we recommend this one. Since it's analog, you'll need two analog reading pins on your microcontroller to determine X and Y. We designed the breakout so that you can attach the thumbstick to a panel...

Sometimes a simple analog control device can be the perfect tactile solution for your project, but they can be surprisingly hard to come by. Luckily we've found a low cost, quality Mini Analog Joystick to fill you directional analog input needs! Unlike most arcade-style joysticks which come with four clicking switches, this product has two 10KΩ potentiometers and a spring-back system. You can get a full 50 degrees in both X and Y...

Punch in your secret key (or Jenny's number) into this numeric matrix keypad. This keypad has 16 buttons, arranged in a telephone-line 4x4 grid. The keys are connected into a matrix, so you only need 8 microcontroller pins (4-columns and 4-rows) to scan through the pad. Check the tutorials tab for links to an Arduino library and example code. We include some header so you can plug this into a breadboard with ease, some light...

Punch in your secret key (or Jenny's number) into this numeric matrix keypad. This keypad has 12 buttons, arranged in a telephone-line 3x4 grid. The keys are connected into a matrix, so you only need 7 microcontroller pins (3-columns and 4-rows) to scan through the pad. Check the tutorials tab for links to an Arduino library and example code. We include some header so you can plug this into a breadboard with ease, some light...

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  The quick brown fox - sorry! We were practicing our typing ON THIS NEW AWESOME KEYBOARD. With 88 dedicated keys and 12 function keys, totaling 100 keys altogether, this 'standard size' keyboard is the perfect on-the-go accessory to your Pi or everyday computer when your project doesn't require a dedicated keypad....

This thin silvery ribbon is an interesting sensor. It's made of 2mm wide by 600mm long piezoelectric film sandwich. Piezo film can be used to detect motion or vibration - when shifted around or touched, it creates a small current pulse across the terminals. If a 1 Mega-ohm resistor is placed across the two terminals you will see the current converted into a voltage that can be read by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Basically,...

Sometimes a simple analog control device can be the perfect tactile solution for your project, but they can be surprisingly hard to come by. Luckily we've found a low cost, quality  PSP 3000 2-Axis Analog Thumb Joystick to fulfill your directional analog input needs! This is a replacement component for the PSP 3000, but we think they'd make for a great little joystick/thumbstick add-on for a wearable, or portable project. It's similar to...

The thirst is real! Keep your flora (plants, not the board *wink*) happy and hydrated with the Circuit Playground Express Soil Sensor Mini Kit . This kit will teach you all about how to keep your plants in good condition, by measuring the soil moisture content using a nail and alligator clip, then display red or green LEDs on the Circuit Playground Express to tell you the state of your plant Kit contains: 1 x Circuit Playground Express1 x...

We've had a foot pedal switch in the store for a while but some people have contacted us asking if there was a way to retrofit it to perform variable speed control, like a potentiometer. And here it is! This is a Foot Pedal Potentiometer (a.k.a Sewing Machine Speed Controller). This is a really nice quality one, very sturdy, with a friendly 3.5mm 'audio' connector on the end, so it's incredibly easy to integrate into your...

Manufactured by Spectra Symbol, these are nice little ribbon controllers (also known as 'soft potentiometers') with an adhesive backing. This shape is a circular soft potentiometer with a donut-shaped sensing region whose outer diameter is 55.96mm/2.2in and inner diameter is 35.63mm/1.4in. There is a nominal 10K resistance across the two outer leads. The middle pin resistance with respect to either of the outer pins changes depending on...

This funky user interface element is reminiscent of the original clicking scroll wheel interface on the first  iPods. It's a fancy mechanical kit but has an intuitiveness that is hard to argue with - everyone knows how to use this kind of rotary encoder to scroll and select. This product is just the encoder/button wheel element. The pin-out is a little odd, we really recommend our breakout PCB to turn it into a breadboard-friendly...

The ANO rotary encoder wheel is a funky user interface element is reminiscent of the original clicking scroll wheel interface on the first  iPods. It's a nifty kit, but the pin-out is a little odd, so we made a handy breakout board that converts the funky pin set into a straight forward, breadboard-friendly header strip. This is just the PCB for the ANO encoder, the encoder is NOT included! Pick one up here. There's no pull-up or...

From the folks at Solder Party comes the  Keyboard FeatherWing ,   an easy way to add a handheld QWERTY keyboard and a 2.6” color display (+ more) to your project! Nice hand-held size and great for typing with your thumbs, early 2000s-style. The keyboard itself does not contain an MCU/CPU/SoC that you can program; you will need a board compatible with the Adafruit Feather Ecosystem. Once you plug it into the...

The Sensor Film Kit is a great new way to make custom-sized sensors out of force sensitive material. This kit includes one piece of black plastic sensor film (it's thicker and more durable than Velostat but similar in function), two pieces of heavy aluminum foil, and two pieces of clear adhesive polyester film. The sensor film is super durable and changes its electrical resistance when force is applied. It's a lot like Velostat but a bit...

Turn your paintings into touch sensors. Say what? Yes! And that's only some of the amazing things this Bare Conducitve Touch Board can do. This board is designed to be integrated with the Bare Conductive Paint, though you can use many other conductive tools (it has 12 electrodes which can have any conductive material connected to it). But if you can paint your own, why would you use anything else?  The pre-programmed...

Add precise capacitive touch, distance sensing and high quality audio to your Raspberry Pi A+, B+, Zero and later (any Raspberry Pi with a 40 pin GPIO connector) with the Pi Cap from Bare Conductive! Connect Electric Paint or anything conductive to one of the 12 electrodes to control sounds, video and more. Connecting the physical world to the digital world is easy with Bare Conductive's fully featured...

The pIRkey adds an IR remote receiver to any computer, laptop, tablet...any computer or device with a USB port that can use a keyboard. This little board slides into any USB A port, and shows up as an every-day USB keyboard. The onboard ATSAMD21 microcontroller listens for IR remote signals and converts them to keypresses, mouse movements, or even USB serial output. Infrared is our favorite wireless protocol - no antennas, certifications,...