Product Search Help: I'm Looking For A Rotary Encoder That Outputs The Position In Degrees

I don't know if this would work for you...

LCH-360-USB – USB Inclinometer Sensor, 360° Range, USB interface

The LCH-360 is a low cost single axis inclinometer sensor supplied in a machined Aluminium housing. It has a digital USB interface and takes power from the USB port of a PC or laptop. A PCB only version is also available (part number LCP-360-USB).

https://www.leveldevelopments.com/products/inclinometers/inclinometer-sensors/lch-360-usb-usb-inclinometer-sensor-360-range-usb-interface/

Or something like this:

Encoder

Hi, thank you for your suggestions! The link for this one isn't working for me, though. I google searched the image and got a general "digital absolute encoder" result, but they all seem to output square wave pulses.

The link doesn't work for me now, either. Maybe their site is down and will be back up later. If that doesn't work, it is the first entry on this page.

I tried it in Internet Explorer and it works, but doesn't work in Chrome. I don't know why....

I'm definitely interested in this one. I looked on the page and it says that it's USB powered and connects to a PC the same way, so do you think it would just output the degrees once connected to a PC (and the appropriate drivers are downloaded)? I don't know if you know, but I've emailed them to ask, just wanted your opinion.

I checked the Instructions for communication with supplied library document and it says the output is calibrated to degrees (pg 2)! (In case anyone stumbles across this thread in the future and wants to know)

The absolute encoders with square waves you are looking at are binary coded, where the output is several parallel square waves which must be decoded according to the design, sometimes Gray code, others are also common.

i.e. 8 lines will decode 256 increments of movement.

https://www.dynapar.com/Technology/Encoder_Basics/Encoder_Protocol_Interfaces/

What you are looking for is a much more expensive and less versatile encoder that produces position packets either on interrupt or time schedule, new packets generated as the shaft rotates. Plus they require a special interface that is not typically available on your laptop, for instance.

These are not as useful for high speed machine control, due to position latency concerns, so mass production leading to lower prices may not have made them as affordable as parallel output encoders.

Even for parallel output absolute encoders, in industrial applications, there are specialized acquisition modules designed for high speed position data generated by parallel output encoders. The slew rate of the moving device is critical to the design of the acquisition system.

In the attached Dynapar link, typical serial encoder interfaces do not include USB, which has wiring distance concerns that could reduce reliability in industrial environments. So the USB encoder is probably made available more as a novelty or a lab test item. However, BEI does make a module to convert SSI absolute encoder data to USB 2.0....

http://www.beisensors.com/pdfs/dual-encoder-usb-converter.pdf

You could use an endoscope with readout from a wheel mounted on the motor shaft with degrees stamped on it...

You could make the wheel as large as you want for incremental readout, a magnifier lens with crosshair would help...maybe just a jewelers loop with crosshair added by you....

Most encoders produce a digital output with up to 3 channels, (3 phase) for added security, the ones I use for the meters on fuel pumps produce a repeated binary code of 132645 and this is then converted to mililitres .

For basic shaft positioning a 'search' for WIND VANE ENCODER will bring up a lot of choice and you could add a tin chicken on top for a bit of fun .

Tom

Many years ago during my apprenticeship we were taught about gun and radar controls which used shaft positioning using a device called a SELSYN - this might be more what you're looking for, but you need a bit of analogue electrical knowledge to use the output.

Tom

Use an "off the shelf" encoder and this interface to USB:

http://www.beisensors.com/encoder-usb-converter.html

Data sheet and driver links on the web page.

Well if price is not a concern, and your skills to program these instruments is at an adequate level, then this is the way to go...

http://www.beisensors.com/programmable-encoders.html

Maybe something like this could be adapted....

http://www.prismaelectronics.com/en/products/digital-degree-wheel