Using Color-Coded Wire to Simplify Installation of Knobs

raw knobs

There are three important busses, or groups of parallel wires that need to be connected in order to use a MAX158. (There are also additional single wires, but they're covered elsewhere.)

  • AIN1-AIN8. Analog Inputs. Between the Knobs themselves and the EZ-Kit.
  • D0-D8. Data Bits Zero through Eight. Between the EZ-Kit and the MAX158.
  • A0-A2. Addressing Pins. Between the EZ-Kit and the MAX158.

    To make these connections easy, go to e.g. Active Electronics or perhaps other places that sell rainbow-colored ribbon cable, buy and use it. Follow the "Resistor Color Code" to make things "EZ" on yourself :) It is easy to understand, because most of it follows the Rainbow colors:

  • Black = 0
  • Brown = 1
  • Red = 2
  • Orange = 3
  • Yellow = 4
  • Green = 5
  • Blue = 6
  • Violet = 7
  • Gray = 8

    AIN1-AIN8

    Notice how it starts with brown (1) and ends at Gray.

    Connect one end to the 28-pin socket that you mounted to a protoboard. Use the pinout of the max158, and follow the colors!

    D0 Through D7

    Notice how this one begins at Black(0) and ends at Violet(7):

    Notice the split in the wires. That is because D0-D3 are on one side of the chip and D4-D7 are on the other side.

    D0-D3. Notice how they're Black(0) through Orange(3).

    D4-D7. Notice how they're Yellow(4) through Violet(7).

    A more zoomed-out view so you can see the whole wire.

    This is what I put at the other end, but you can just solder it directly to your board if you want:

    knobs connect

    knobs connect