Adafruit DS1841 I2C Digital 10K Potentiometer Breakout - STEMMA QT / Qwiic

Product ID: 4570
$5.95


Qty Discount
1-9 $5.95
10-99 $5.36
100+ $4.76

Description

Potentiometers are the perfect tool when you want to change your circuit by turning a knob. Turns out, there are times when you want to adjust your circuit without manually turning a knob, and the DS1841 I2C Logarithmic Resistor from Maxim can do just that. It's a programmable resistor, similar to an I2C potentiometer like the DS3502 I2C Potentiometer, so why another?

The big difference between the two is how the resistance changes in relation to changes made to the wiper. The DS3502's resistance has a linear relationship to the wiper's setting. Each time you change the wiper by a given amount, the resistance will change by the same amount. With the DS1841, the relationship between resistance and the wiper setting is logarithmic. This means that as the wiper setting changes, the amount of resistance will depend on where in the wiper's range the current setting is.

Log potentiometers are used in audio applications for things like volume control because they better match the response of human ear to sound.

The DS1841's resistance ranges from 22kOhms to 3.7 kOhms and has 128 tap points. Even more interestingly, the DS1841 can be configured to adjust its resistance based on temperature with hysteresis to keep things from jumping around. 

Additionally, the temperature compensation can be adjusted by using the LUT (Look UTable) built into the DS1841. This table allows you to specify the wiper setting for each of 70 temperature increments between -39 and 100 degrees C, plus one each for above or below that range. You can even manually set the wiper to one of the entries in the LUT.

Working with the DS1841 is easy. We've put it on a breakout PCB with the required support circuitry and SparkFun qwiic compatible STEMMA QT connectors to allow you to use it with other similarly equipped boards without needing to solder. QT Cable is not included, but we have a variety in the shop.  This handy little helper can work with 3.3V or 5V micros, so it's ready to get to work with a range of development boards. To make things even easier we've gone and written Arduino and CircuitPython/Python 3 drivers to simplify interfacing with your new knob-replacing friend.

Fancy as they are, breakouts alone won’t get you far, so we’ve written libraries for CircuitPython and Arduino along with example code to make them simple to use.

Play video: JP’s Product Pick of the Week 2/2/21 DS1841 Log Digi Pot @adafruit @johnedgarpark

Play video: What is Stemma QT? #adafruit #stemma

Play video: New Products 7/08/20 featuring Adafruit PMSA003I Air Quality Breakout - STEMMA QT / Qwiic!

Technical Details

Revision History:

  • As of Nov 2, 2023 – we've updated this PCB with Adafruit Pinguin to make a lovely and legible silkscreen - you may get the new PCB or the older version with vector fonts - both are identical other than the fancy silkscreen. 

Product Dimensions: 25.5mm x 17.6mm x 4.6mm / 1.0" x 0.7" x 0.2"

RoHS 2 2011 65 EU Compliant
RoHS 2 2015 863 EU Compliant

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