Problem

Your project requires on/off control, as provided by a switch or pushbutton.

Solution

There are a few physical connections to make first. It's always safest to make connections to the board when the power is off, just in case you make a mistake. The steps are as follows:

1. Connect one side of the pushbutton (doesn't matter which) to the VIn connector on the input side of the board. Do this by screwing the stripped wire connected to the pushbutton into the appropriate screw terminal, as shown below.

2. Make sure you have the voltage select jumper for this bank set to 3.3V - this is the default, so if you haven't touched this, don't worry about it.

The voltage select jumper set to 3.3V

3. Connect the other side of the pushbutton to In0 - you can choose any input you like, but make sure to adjust any of the following directions to reflect your change.

The pushbutton connected between VIn and In0

Discussion

Now when the pushbutton is pressed, the 3.3 volts supplied from VIn will be connected to In0, and the Make Controller will read that the In0 is on. The inputs on the Make Controller have pulldown resistors on them, which is why you can make a direct connection like this, straight from the voltage to the input.

Connecting a switch, as opposed to a pushbutton, is the same - connect the two sides of the switch between VIn and In0, making sure the voltage select jumper is set to 3.3V.

See Also