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I want to take my RC car remote, which uses a potentiometer to control throttle, and connect it to an arduino in order to control the cars speed. The ardunio fits perfectly in the base of the remote.

I want to retain original functionality, however, this can be changed.

I am fairly new to electrical engineering and arduino in general.

TLDR: What would be the best way to "emulate" a potentiometer signal using an arduino that would then get sent into into the part of the remote that transmits signals?

EDIT: This is for a project on self driving vehicles. I will have a desktop PC with Java software that is grabbing images from a camera mounted on the actual car and telling the car how to react. The arduino in the base of the remote will be connected via a USB port. The android / Java part of the software is complete and I just need to get the arduino code working to tell the car "Move Left this much" and "Go forward for x seconds". This is all figured out except for that analog control.

asked Mar 30, 2013 at 23:31
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  • \$\begingroup\$ You mentioned a potentiometer which controls the "throttle." Are you using a gas RC car or battery powered? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 23:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ Battery powered RC car. It is a 5 cell 3300mah battery. the charger charges it at 4A. The remote runs on 9 AA batteries. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 23:56

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Don't emulate it. Just go digital. Use a Digital Potentiometer. Some use i2c some use spi, some have a serial input. Just pick one with the same resistance range (Say 50k or 100k), and try to pick one with a high number of steps (different positions between the high and low ends of the potentiometer range). You can also get them in Log or Linear version.

answered Mar 31, 2013 at 1:19
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