Find the side with three solder pads. This side controls the rotating knob. Solder a black wire to the center pad. Solder a blue wire to the leftmost pad and a green wire to the rightmost pad.

Flip the encoder over and find the side with two solder pads. This side controls the button that clicks when you press down on the knob. Solder another black wire to the pad on the left (with the encoder facing right-side up) and a yellow wire to the pad on the right.

 

Press the rotary encoder down inside the 3d printed holder so the knob sticks out the bottom. It should fit snugly, with none of the pads touching each other and no accidental solder bridges.

Solder both of the two black wires to the G pin on the Circuit Playground as shown.

Solder the yellow wire (from the 2-pin side) to pad A5. Solder the blue and green wires to pins A2 and A3 respectively.

Plug in your Circuit Playground and test to be sure the knob works. Pressing down on the knob should turn the lights on and off. Twisting the knob should change the brightness (if your Circuit Playground onboard switch is set to the left) or the animation speed (if it's set to the right).

Nestle your Circuit Playground gently into the holder. If you experience flickering or shorting, put a piece of tape on the back of the Circuit Playground just to be extra-sure the rotary encoder's pads aren't touching the pads on the back of the board and causing confusion.

This guide was first published on Jan 27, 2021. It was last updated on Sep 30, 2023.

This page (Rotary Encoder Wiring) was last updated on Jan 20, 2021.

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