Potentiometer on motor for position control I am using a wiper motor as a rotor. I am trying to get it to at least point in different azimuths (compass azimuths eg. 180 degrees) In order to do this, I am thinking about attaching a potentiometer on the axle inside the motor housing to see where the motor is pointing. 

So lets say the pot gives me a range of 0-1023. If I divide 1023 by 360 i get 2.84. So lets say the pot gives the Arduino a 1, I can relate that to 2.84 degrees?

Also, what if the motor is pointing at 350 degrees, and I want it to point at 2 degrees. Instead of it turning around 348 degrees, it just cross pass 360 and go to 2 degrees.  How would a pot handle going over a single step? If the motor passed a single step would it consistently give me a 1023 reading?  

I am trying to get a wiper motor to have a known position 360 degrees around.
I am trying to get a wiper motor to have a known position 360 degrees around. 


There might be a few possibilities.

First there are continuous rotation potentiometers on the market. They seem expensive though and I can't comment on how accurate they are.

Second, if your device is only ever going to turn through say ten revolutions then go back, you could just get a multiturn pot that will handle that range of turns. (Depends what you're building of course - for example I've heard of servo winches for model sailboats that use this method.)

Thirdly, and I accept this may not be a good answer to your question, but have you thought about using incremental encoders instead? In theory they could be more accurate too. The hardware is quite easy but a bit more programming is required to make these work...