Professional Development Board Questions

overlook77

I am new to electronics and have two basic questions about the Professional Development Board.

1)· The 10k potentiometer has three connections.· From experimenting with an LED,·the middle connection seems to be the output.· However, what is the 1st and 3rd connection?· The first (top) connection seems to make the LED brighter.

2)· The black breadboard connectors that go around the breadboard (vs the white ones in the middle) are in pairs.· Why is this?· For example, if you connect to·a built-in LED on the board such as LED 1, why are there two possible inputs to LED 1?· Is this so you can connect this component in a series, and is there any differences between the two connectors?

Thanks in advance.

Chris Savage

Hello,

The three connections on the PDB for the potentiometer are the same three connections you would get on a stand-alone potentiometer. Please see the documentation/schematics for more details. I wouldn’t recommend using them to power an LED though because as you exceed the current rating for the LED you will most likely damage the potentiometer as well. It’s best to calculate and use the appropriate fixed value resistor for LEDs.

As for the black connectors, almost every one simply offers to connection points rather than limiting you to one. The exception is the ones for the LCD interface. I hope this helps. Take care.

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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support