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Fabteck's 24-Step Rotary Encoder Handles Debounce in Hardware, So You Don't Have To

The design "completely eliminates bounce at the output of the encoder and provides 100 per cent reading accuracy," its creator claims.

Gareth Halfacree
3 years ago β€’ HW101

Canadian electronics concern Fabteck has released a rotary encoder with a difference: It includes a hardware debounce circuit, designed to avoid mis-reads as it switches between its 24 positions.

"This is a 24-steps rotary encoder which includes a built-in debouncing circuit," the company writes of its creation. "The rotary encoder and the built-in switch signals pass [through] a signal rebound processing circuit which eliminate the bouncing caused by other rotary encoder[s]."

Debouncing is most commonly handled in software, with a routine, which checks to see if a supposed switch activation is legitimate. Without debouncing, a single press of a switch β€” or turn of an encoder β€” has an annoying tendency to trigger several responses in a circuit.

Fabteck's encoder handles everything in hardware. "[It] completely eliminates bounce at the output of the encoder and provides 100 per cent reading accuracy," its creator claims β€” with an oscilloscope recording to prove the point.

More details are available on the Fabteck Tindie store, where the encoder is being sold for $12.95.

Gareth Halfacree
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.
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