Comment by HeyLaughingBoy 5 days ago
It's amazing how many parts they fit into such a tiny space, isn't it? Those things are little marvels.
It's a potentiometer most of the time, BTW. Encoders are on the spendy "digital servos"
An encoder is a device that encodes the position -- absolute or relative -- of its shaft as a set of digital outputs.
Most common type uses optical sensors internally, although there are also magnetic types. A quadrature encoder is the most popular and provides two output signals, phase separated by 90 degrees. The phase separation allows the reader to determine which direction the shaft is moving.
A potentiometer used for position feedback is usually just called a potentiometer. I guess it's technically an encoder, but I don't think I've ever heard it referred to that way.
There are also resolvers, discussed somewhere else in this thread, but we won't go there!
HTH
> A potentiometer used for position feedback is usually just called a potentiometer. I guess it's technically an encoder, but I don't think I've ever heard it referred to that way.
I have absolutely seen potentiometers called encoders in industrial applications. The underlaying technology is irrelevant. Encoders and revolvers are just transducers of position.
Yeah, it was a potentiometer. Is an encoder not simply any device that provides a signal proportional to its position or displacement? It had wiper arms (brushes?) that dragged along a conducting surface on a PCB below the rotor.