Component:
Image Reference:
Potentiometer
e6
Jumper Wire
e8
Jumper Wire
Jumper Wire
GND
Jumper Wire
5V
Pin 13
j20
Jumper Wire
GND
Jumper Wire
5V5V
+
+
-
+
-
h20
h21
LED
(5mm)
330
Ω
Resistor
j21
+
Jumper Wire
A0
e7
+
a6
a7
a8
If you look closely at your RedBoard, you'll see some pins labeled "DIGITAL", and some labeled "ANALOG". What's the difference?
Many of the devices you'll interface to, such as LEDs and pushbuttons, have only two possible states: on and off, or as they're known to the RedBoard, "HIGH" (5 volts) and "LOW" (0 volts). The digital pins on an RedBoard are great at getting these signals to and from the outside world, and can even do tricks like simulated dimming (by blinking on and off really fast), and serial communications (transferring data to another device by encoding it as patterns of HIGH and LOW).
But there are also a lot of things out there that aren't just "on" or "off". Temperature levels, control knobs, etc. all have a continuous range of values between HIGH and LOW. For these situations, the RedBoard offers six analog inputs that translate an input voltage into a number that ranges from 0 (0 volts) to 1023 (5 volts). The analog pins are perfect for measuring all those "real world" values, and allow you to interface the RedBoard to all kinds of things.
Digital versus Analog:
DIGITAL
0 volts
0
5 volts
1023
to
or
ANALOG
HIGH
on
5 volts
LOW
off
0 volts
Page 27
Summary of Contents for RedBoard
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