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

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 — or turn of an encoder — 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 — 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.