Specifications
| Type | Two-axis thumbstick with a centre click, the kind used in games controllers: three inputs on three signal pins |
|---|---|
| Stick | Two potentiometers from VCC to GND, one per axis, on X and Y. Rests near half of VCC; at least 60° of travel end to end on the supplier's drawing |
| Click | SW: a switch to VCC under the stick, with a pull-down on the board. LOW at rest, HIGH while pressed. Read it as INPUT, not INPUT_PULLUP |
| Lights | 2: PWR red, on whenever it has power, about 0.29 mA at 3.3 V and 0.63 mA at 5 V; SW blue, on while the stick is pressed, about 0.14 mA at 3.3 V and 0.47 mA at 5 V, so dim on a 3.3 V board. Worked out, not measured. Both work with no sketch running |
| Supply | 3.3 V or 5 V, the same as your board's logic: 3V3 beside an ESP32, ESP32-S3 or Pico, 5V on an Uno. Every signal can reach VCC |
| Current | Not published. The stick's tracks take about 1 mA at 5 V if they are the 10 kΩ they are marked, and the red PWR light about 0.3 mA at 3.3 V and 0.6 mA at 5 V through its 5.1 kΩ resistor. While pressed, the pull-down adds VCC over 5.1 kΩ, about 0.65 mA at 3.3 V and 0.98 mA at 5 V, and the blue SW light about 0.14 mA and 0.47 mA more |
| Pins to wire | 5 of 6: VCC, GND, two analog inputs for X and Y, and one digital input for SW. NC is in no net |
| Header | 6 right-angle male pins, 2.54 mm pitch, along the bottom edge: GND, VCC, NC, X, Y, SW, with GND on the square pad |
| Board | 31.0 × 31.0 mm, square, with four 4.8 mm mounting holes 24 mm apart |
| Height | About 29 mm to the top of the cap, which is about 25 mm across (3D model) |
What it is
A thumbstick on a square TinkerBlock board. The stick tilts along two axes and clicks when pushed straight down, so it is three inputs, and they come out on six pins: X, Y, SW, VCC, GND and NC.
X and Y are two potentiometers under the stick, each a track from VCC to GND with a wiper the stick turns. Let go, each rests near half of VCC; tilted, it moves towards one end.
SW is a switch under the stick, to VCC, with a pull-down on the board. It reads LOW at rest and HIGH while pressed.
VCC is the ceiling of all three. Wire it to your board's own logic voltage: 3V3 beside an ESP32, an ESP32-S3 or a Pico, 5V on an Uno.
Which pin is which
Parts up, header along the bottom, reading left to right:
| GND | to your board's GND | the square pad: count from here |
| VCC | to 5V on an Uno, 3V3 on the rest | every signal can reach it |
| NC | nothing | in no net on the board |
| X | to an analog pin | one axis of the stick |
| Y | to an analog pin | the other axis |
| SW | to a digital pin | the click. LOW at rest, HIGH pressed. INPUT, not INPUT_PULLUP |
The back prints the same names mirrored, SW Y X NC VCC GND, with the square pad on the right, and three lines that sum up the board: X, Y ANALOG OUTPUT, SWITCH ACTIVE HIGH, PULL-DOWN BY RESISTOR.
Wiring
| Board | X | Y | SW | VCC to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arduino Uno | A0 | A1 | D2 | 5V |
| ESP32 | GPIO 34 | GPIO 35 | GPIO 25 | 3V3 |
| ESP32-S3 | GPIO 4 | GPIO 5 | GPIO 7 | 3V3 |
| Raspberry Pi Pico | GP26 | GP27 | GP15 | 3V3(OUT) |
On the ESP32s, X and Y are on ADC1, which keeps working with Wi-Fi on. The red PWR light comes on as soon as VCC and GND are right.
Example
// Uno: A0 A1 2. ESP32: 34 35 25. ESP32-S3: 4 5 7. Pico: 26 27 15.
const int X_PIN = 4, Y_PIN = 5, SW_PIN = 7;
int centreX, centreY;
void setup() {
Serial.begin(115200);
pinMode(SW_PIN, INPUT); // R10 on the board pulls it down
delay(200); // hands off the stick
centreX = analogRead(X_PIN); // where this stick rests
centreY = analogRead(Y_PIN);
}
void loop() {
Serial.print("X ");
Serial.print(analogRead(X_PIN) - centreX);
Serial.print(" Y ");
Serial.print(analogRead(Y_PIN) - centreY);
Serial.print(" SW ");
Serial.println(digitalRead(SW_PIN)); // 1 while pressed
delay(200);
}import sys
import time
from machine import ADC, Pin
# ESP32: 34 35 25. ESP32-S3: 4 5 7. Pico: 26 27 15.
X_PIN, Y_PIN, SW_PIN = 4, 5, 7
ESP = sys.platform == "esp32"
def analog(pin):
adc = ADC(Pin(pin))
if ESP:
adc.atten(ADC.ATTN_11DB) # the full range, to about 3.1 V
return adc
x_adc, y_adc = analog(X_PIN), analog(Y_PIN)
sw = Pin(SW_PIN, Pin.IN) # R10 on the board pulls it down
time.sleep_ms(200) # hands off the stick
cx, cy = x_adc.read_u16(), y_adc.read_u16()
while True:
print("X", x_adc.read_u16() - cx, "Y", y_adc.read_u16() - cy,
"SW", sw.value())
time.sleep_ms(200)Let go, both numbers sit near 0. Push the stick each way to see which one moves and which way; press it and SW prints 1 and the blue SW light comes on.
Where to start
The handbook below is ten short articles, each with a working figure. The first read is the whole build in five wires, and VCC sets the top is the one wiring choice that can hurt a board.
For a stick that reads 0 when let go, a centre and a dead zone is the sketch. For a direction instead of two numbers, eight directions.
When it doesn’t work
- Should VCC go to 5V or 3V3?
- To whatever your board's pins run at: 3V3 on an ESP32, an ESP32-S3 or a Raspberry Pi Pico, 5V on an Arduino Uno. X and Y reach VCC at the ends of the travel and SW is joined to VCC on every click, and nothing on the board limits that. 5V beside a 3.3 V board overdrives its pins; 3V3 on an Uno is safe but only reaches about 675 of 1023.
- SW reads LOW when I am not pressing it. Is that right?
- Yes. A resistor on the board pulls SW down to 0 V, and pressing the stick straight down joins it to VCC. So it is LOW at rest and HIGH while pressed, the opposite of most buttons, and the back of the board says SWITCH ACTIVE HIGH. Set the pin to INPUT; INPUT_PULLUP would fight the resistor on the board.
- Why does the stick not read exactly the middle when I let go?
- No thumbstick does. Each axis springs back near the middle of its track, not onto it, and X and Y rest in slightly different places. Measure the centre when the sketch starts, with the stick let go, and treat anything within a few per cent of it as 0.
- Which way does each axis go?
- X and Y are the names of the two potentiometers, not directions. From where they sit on the supplier's drawing, X should follow the tilt towards and away from the header and Y the tilt left and right; which way each one rises is not on the drawing. The first sketch in the handbook prints both so you can push the stick each way and see.
- What are the two lights for?
- PWR, the red one, is on whenever VCC and GND are connected the right way round. SW, the blue one, is on while the stick is pressed; on a 3.3 V board it is dim, which is the resistor and the blue LED's higher drop, not a fault. Neither needs a sketch, so they split a fault in two: SW lighting while your sketch sees nothing means the wire or the pin number is wrong, not the board.
- What do I leave unconnected?
- NC, the third hole from GND. It is in no net on the board. Everything else gets a wire.