Servo Wiring

To keep this project simple, the two servos are wired to the same pins.  They'll be synchronized and always move together.

Servo G (brown wire)

Circuit Playground G

Servo + (red wire)

Circuit Playground VBATT

Servo Control (orange wire)

Circuit Playground 9

Joystick Wiring

Connect the joystick to the X-out pin for a left to right control action.  If you'd prefer up-and-down action, use the Y-out pin instead.

Joystick G

Circuit Playground G

Joystick VCC

Circuit Playground 3.3V

Joystick Xout

Circuit Playground 10

Wiring Constraints

The TiCoServo library limits which pins we can use for servos: pins 9 or 10 only. Additionally, analog inputs (like the joystick) can only be read on Circuit Playground's "right side" pins: 12, 6, 9 or 10. Two of these overlap the servo-compatible pins, so it's really just pins 12 and 6 that remain.

If you're planning to use more than pins 9-10 take note: Digital pin 12 is called A11 and digital pin 6 is called A7 so be sure to write your code appropriately.

More about Circuit Playground's Pinouts

With some planning it could be possible to control the ears independently and add lots more "expressions" in the finished project. However, for the scope of this intro project we've chosen to keep things simple, and have just one left-to-right control for both ears. It's a one-trick pony.

As you can see, though, it's still incredibly effective and fun!  See where your imagination takes you.

Layout

This hat has two little attached pockets which are perfect for hiding the joystick and the battery.  I recommend placing the joystick on the side with your non-dominant hand, since I've found it harder to sneak my dominant hand away to control the ears, as it's often busy holding things.

The Circuit Playground rests right under the horn so we can use its onboard NeoPixels for magical rainbow light.

This guide was first published on Jun 16, 2017. It was last updated on Jun 16, 2017.

This page (Wiring Diagram) was last updated on Jun 12, 2017.

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