How A Potentiometer Works & Options for Wiring
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- In this video I provide some explanation on how a pot works internally and walk through some of the most common ways to wire it up, including the volume control (voltage divider), variable resistor, and blender.
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First off, thank you for an excellent, in-depth video! Well done, Sir! Second, you are correct; when using a pot as a variable resistor, leaving the 3rd lead open, or tying it to the wiper pin makes no difference, electrically, though it is generally considered bad practice to leave ANY lead open, or "floating", as they can act as antennas for all types of electromagnetic noise, including radio signals. Also, thank you so much for pointing out the 3rd configuration! (What you refer to as a "blend" control") Just for clarity, when the wiper lead is used for input and the outer two leads for output, this is traditionally known as a "balance" control, such as that used for stereo speakers or headphones, in order to balance the audio levels between the two channels. On the other hand, when the wiper lead is the OUTput, and the outer leads the INput, then it is typically called a "mix" control. One example where this would be used is called a "voice-over". This is when a D.J. or radio host wants to adjust the relative volumes of two inputs, usually a microphone and a music source. All in all, a fine, informative video! Cheers for now!
Thank you for this additional information; it is also very informative and insightful.
this is the reason i cant get into electronics
Excellent input! 😀😉🤣👍
Very good ! Showing which one was the wiper clarified everything !
You light up exactly dark point of pots ! Exactly my deep questions. Thank You so much. Best wishes for you.
This was the explanation I needed, thanks a lot Kley De Jong :)
Thank you for this video. Knowing what was input and what was output helped me finish my project.
Excellent explanation on the use of a pot. Thank you Kley!
Thank you! Very helpful since salvaging electronic parts is just my hobby and knowing their uses is simply amazing! Subbed!
Have you a Pot 10k ohm ,with a on switch built in ,it’s from a Sony TC- 108 60s Tape recorder,thanks
Your video is excellent. I am repairing a mobility scooter and it came with a two wire pot, the problem is finding a two wire pot is very difficult. So I was hoping someone could explain if a three wire pot could be used and you did. Thank you so much, it was extremely helpful.
This is a great and easy to understand explanation of how these can be wired and how they work. Kudos!
So just to clarify a few things. First off, thank you for posting these videos. Super informative man and much appreciated. Ive learned so much from people putting up videos like this! So on the last example where you plug the input of the guitar pickup into the middle lug / sweeper you are basically turning the volume pot into part of the pickup. This is how LP's, PRS and guitars that have multiple volume pots for individual pickups are wired. You are sending the pickup itself (the input) to ground when you turn counter clockwise. Its also a little more efficient on the out put side as the input is directly connected to the output. No variable resistance or shorting the signal when its all the way up. For strats and guitars with a single volume pot, you want to use the first lug (the one that is all the way clockwise) for the input and connect the middle / sweeper to the output. So its the same thing when the pot is all the way up. the inout is corrected directly to the output, but flowing the opposite direction. However when you start to turn the pot down you are essentially creating a short in the circuit by sending a portion of the signal to ground. This short coupled by a variant in resistance creates the drop in high frequencies when you start to taper the volume down. Its not the resistance. Power has both a direct and an inverse relationship to power, and one of the three variants has to stay constant. Resistance cannot lower voltage and power at the same time. Most people think the pot is lowering output voltage via resistance increasing. But the relationship between power, current, voltage and resistance doesn't work that way. and an decrease in voltage would actually create more power with a steady current stream and less power with a steady voltage stream. Its simply the redirection of voltage to ground as well as the decrease in circuit efficiency via the slight short we are creating with the taper that does it. The resistance plays more of a role in the tonal degradation as opposed tis output level. Which is why selecting the right pots with the right impedance is important because it can really mess with your tone. Its also why making sure that third lug is grounded properly along with everything else. If its not, you won't be able to turn all the way down amongst other problems. And its also important to create one long ground circuit between all of the electronics. The PUPs, Pots, switches, preamps and batteries if using active pickups or buffers. Some people even like to ground there bridge or tremolo to prevent any ground loops from interference. It should all be connected d and moving to ground on the same circuit. The lug to casing option is good here so you don't have to try and run all of it through the little holes in the lugs when you get to the point. Just dollop a blob of solder on the back of your pots and bend the ground lug up so its touching the casing and the solder and then drop a bead of solder on it to connect it properly. then it's not a big deal to connect a couple wires to the back of a pot to make the ground circuit work smoothly. As far as tone goes, capacitors tend to resist low frequency and ;let highs pass. So tying in a cap to the counter-clockwise lug and the ground sends the high frequencies to ground and doesn't let the lows through. The greater the capacitance, the darker the roll off will be. preamp tone controls in passive tone stacks work the same way. Different combinations of resistors and caps create high pass and low pass filters with different cut off points. Thats why changing caps and resistors at certain points "revoices" the amp. The tone control os the same. Its attenuating the signal by sending it to ground like a volume pot, but letting only certain frequencies get by.
Great video. Thank you!
Great video, explained simple and easy to follow. Did you ever release Part 2?
great video thank you for your explanation
great video and to the point.
best video on this subject!
Nice video, breaks it down really well :)
If I wanted to do the blend thing between 2x pickups, but wanted to keep one of the pickups on all the time, how would I wire that? ie, bridge pickup always on but with the option to blend in the neck pickup?
awesome video! thank you
Thanks , good video 👍🏼
Great stuff, like where this is going. Limitless applications for shaping a "Tone" or balancing sources...thanks. Let us know where the pot shaft is pointing si we can visualise a Circuit (back/ front).
I hope you see this!!
I'm making iontophoresis machines, which basically supply a current through your hands or feet to stop them sweating temporarily.
I want to put a potentiometer on their to vary the voltage that goes to the output, as some people have sensitive hands/feet and can't handle 18v (x2 9volt batteries). Is there a simple way to do this?
Thanks
Terrific keep it up, v informative ....thanks very much. SIR.
I have a 10K ohm pot, off a vintage (60s) tape recorder,which has 3 terminals on top of pot ,for the wiper resistor inside,and 2 underneath,it has a one click on/off built in,then stages for volume, I have a wiring diagram,The new pot I purchased has no terminal markings,how can/should I test with a voltmeter,or continuity tester,to find out,1,input output terminals,2nd which terminal wire should feed a tone switch on the tape,the model is a Sony TC - 108, the new pot has 5 terminals too.3 together (wiper) .! Other two ,is it too the tone control switch.any help would be appreciated.thanks,
Thank you so much!!!! This was super helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
Yay!!
Love CW
So Like I am building a VU meter Tower Driver Board And the ( Pot ) to control the amount of LED's to be Lit Would I use the Voltage Divider OR the Blend One ? I'm thinking the blend One would work the best What is your Opinion Please ?
Thanks for the explanation and drawings. Well done.
there is a faulty ecplanation this video
I wired (2) wipers together on a guitar pedal just messing around. It was the bass and treble. It gives it some different and interesting sounds. Any idea what I did?
I wanna install one on my radio control radio its already a 3 way switch up is forward down is reverse but its either off or full on I would like to have some control of my speed is this possible
Thank you so much
Thank u very much my bro
Question on the pin connections: If input goes to 1, output to 2 (wiper), then wouldn't rotating the wiper clockwise mean there is higher resistance and therefore a lower output voltage from the wiper? For something like a guitar volume pot, don't we want the opposite effect?
Also had a thought on wiring the extra terminal to ground: If the impedance of the circuit using the potentiometer is greater than the max resistance of the potentiometer, then wouldn't this mean that connecting the unused terminal to ground would bleed off significantly and change the behavior relative to e.g. shorting the extra terminal to the wiper?
Very helpful. Might I ask how do you know what size ohm potentiometer to use? Thanks!!!
That depends on what components you are using
Very informative video! I have a quick question: is the wiring the same or different for constant voltage and constant current (Or in your terms voltage divider vs current divider)? Thanks!
Question. I need to control the volume of a tweeter speaker. I was going to use a 10watt resistor with either 5, 3, or 1 ohms to controls the volume of the tweeter. My question is, is there a Pot out there that would accomplish the same thing without using individual resistors? And if so can you suggest what potentiometer i would use to do this if at all possible.?
Great video and very well explained. Just wondering about the soldering of a 500k resistor to a 500k pot to make it a 250k pot. Does it matter which way around the resistor is soldered to the outer posts?
No
How would you wire up the pot if you wanted to put a tone knob into the circuit (not in conjunction with a volume pot, just on its own)?
It is wrong on this video.the blend thing he talk s about if you hook upp a active source like cd player preamp etc like he say and show on this video on blend circuit you can blow the source.no active source like to get it,s output shorted out witch can happen when the pot is turned all the way to one off the sides.signal ground is comon is this case.
I having trouble, how do you figure out what the ground pin is on a 7 pin potentiometer? Please help
@4:44 "The pot is good" nice
Thanks! @10:44 What happened to Part II?
This answered my question about leaving a leg open vs tying to the wiper. Thank you for suck a well explained video.
hey guys can u please help me find a video that explains how to wire a 6 pin pot like have an aux connecting to one side and other side having one or two speakers so that way i can plug the aux into my phone and full volume it and have a volume boaster in the middle so i can have it louder.
This is an amazing video! Easy to follow and understand. Love that you tell it straightforward and not a lot of nerdy jargon. Excellent instructional video, indeed! -=80)
What if I had two? And wired them in parallel how do you think the load would behave? Basically two controllers one input for one load?
About the volumen control. It may be easier if you imagine that the signal goes into the wiper and the out-wire are on 1.
So that if the wiper is nearest on pin 1, you have least resistance and it will increase the more it gets toward pin 3.
When the wiper gets to pin 3, all the signal will be send direct to ground = no signal at all. :-)
If I have a temp gauge that’s single wire how do I hook up a pot ?
5:30 It depends on any other "stray" potential terminals with which the port you left open may come (inadvertently) in contact (planes have crashed because components that were never supposed to meet physically did exactly that). Connecting the open port to the wiper port ensures that they are equipotential and there is never any current over the residual taper of the pot.
so if I'm understanding right the bridge or jump is to assure that in cases where the possibility to over power is present this is done as a safety way to insure that it doesn't pass the amount of resistance required? I'm changing a 200 kohms potentiometer in a gas spa water heater, I tested the potentiometer and it looked fine but the heater wouldn't stay on for long, when I plugged it straight it would stay on so I opted for getting a pot but the original came jumped and when I called the company they said that I would be fine if the pot was no les than 2 and no more than 10000 ohms, so I'm assuming the jump is to limit to half its power? I would appreciate the response! Thank you!!
Yes, the bridge is effectively a short that takes eliminates currents over the unused part of the pot resistance. Because an actual pot is a physical device, this unused section may actually display additional behaviours that are more complex than you'd expect from the idealization of the circuit diagram, and that may explain why the manufacturer preferred to deliver it "jumped".
Deipatrous thanks for be response! does it matter or does it make a difference which side or which lug (L1 or L3 to L2) in the grand scheme of things and does it need to be grounded or does it self ground when installed to a metal surface?
It shouldn't make a difference, unless there is something particular about the internal design, about which you should ask the manufacturer. I don't want to give advice beyond my expertise! Whether or not you want to ground the bridge depends on where else in the circuit it is grounded - if these two points are not meant to be equipotential from the point of view of how the circuit functions, you would be effectively shorting it out by grounding it.
Deipatrous thank you makes sense!
Say there is a live wire going to the motor and you cut the wire and join one end to the 1 and the other part of the wire to the centre pin, is that fine?
How would you wire two potentiometers in parallel?
Thanks,
Paul
I've learned to have my input in the middle, my ground on a side and the out on the other... I mean it still works, but not the best thing... now I know why...
Hey do one of the 5 way switch (preferably the imported type)
Good idea, thanks!
Please show the link of part two . I can't find it . Thanks
I'm trying to find it as well, I think it may never have been created :/
Ow ! So I'll be happy if I can watch the part two. I'm sure It will be so amazing like part 1 . Thanks
Thank you for watching your video I correct my mistake
what i'm confused about is why we would want to use voltage division instead of simply input/output first described...please let me know if you get a chance!
You're right man. Check out my comment up above.
Can I assume a typical analog Joystick would be the variable resister type?
My setup calls for a 35K ohm pot. Can I use a higher value such as 40 or 50K. If I do, what will happen?
Will I prevent signal from leaving amp and damage components in my amp? Thanks.
Hard to say for sure without knowing what the pot is doing I'm the circuit. Going from 35k to 50k is close it shouldn't make much difference.
You may find it goes from a fine adjust to corse where your usable range is smaller.
If it is a bias adjustment pot then it needs to be set by measurement. Setting to the same physical setting may be way off.
@@KleyDeJong It is a volume pot.
On a vintage tube amp to my jukebox.
@@westbay5858 should be totally fine.
I'm not understanding why a voltage divider needs a ground for the "excess" voltage. If you were to instead use a fixed value resistor in series, there would be no ground. What am I missing?
Me too I don't understand
@@AL-wc8oy The whole power supply is connected to the outer pins. What he called "ground" is just te minus pole of the supposed battery or power supply. The other pin is the plus. The load to control, instead, is connected to the plus pin AND the wiper pin. That way, you are dividing voltage. With the only difference that the part not connected to any load is dissipating automatically a voltage drop, while the other part which is connected and controlling the load, is dissipating the power between the wiper resistance and the load. It is a little brainy to follow but if you get it it will be clear.
I know its very dumb question :
May i add 2 controller (which have own potentiometer) and make it single by wire it together . Tq sorry i need help
Almost totally in depth. Leaving one terminal open is bad practice for two reasons: (1) acts as an antenna (as @flurng stated) and (2) because pots have noise as the knob is turned and the noise goes from R value at the spot on the element to open circuit. So wire in the open terminal to the center and the noise will only go from R value to max end of pot element value.
Hey could you try this software? Stumble Upon androidcircuitsolver on google
why would godin put a resistor across input and output lug on thier volume knob?
I think that would mostly act to change the taper of the pot.
its a 250k pot with a 150k resistor and it is across 3 and 2 does that seem odd?
I found info on why this person did this and you are correct, it changes taper of volume pot. I found this very interesting thinking I bought a new guitar lol. the factory shemactic that was sent to me from godin does not have this resistor.
My potentiometer has a lower section that works as an on-off function there's a little flat spring in there that came loose I cannot for the life of me figure out where that spring went I ordered a new potentiometers first thing I'm going to do when they comes I'm going to rip one of them apart to see where that spring goes
That new picture is 100 haha
LOL thanks!
Hello Sir , I need your little help !!!
As we all know that potentiometers can also be used as variable resistors ,
Actually i don't have a lot of knowledge about potentiometers and I want one badly to help myself in my project !!!
My case - I have a power source of 6 volts and 6 Amps ( D.C )
I want to get around 4 volts and 4 Amps ( D.C ) by reducing 2 Volts and 2 Amps using a potentiometer !
Now please tell me the value of potentiometer that can give me exact results !!!
Thank you !
Have you tried looking into Ohm's Law?
@@KleyDeJong Not specially !!
What's in Ohm's Law ?
How can I get the exact value using Ohms Law ??
Please tell me the value Sir !!!
You'd would put L2 and L3 together for protection should the wiper leg L2 go bad. You would never exceed the said pot value
sir, how to connect. 2 terminal like positive ang nigative this is Two terminal and the potinsiometer is 3 tirminal.
jumping 2 and 3 just comes down to whether or not you want floating contacts or not.
Variable resistor is bass treble adjustment...voltage divider is power/volume control...blend is left/right audio balance...
I want to add volume control to a metal detector for the headphone jack (mono). From my understanding I'm going to splice the positive lead to wiper, and one to outside lug. Will I damage the circuit if I leave the unused third lug open?
@@bleirdo_dude I would think not...my understanding is that is a common practice to leave the third leg open...
@@standbyme6395 That's what makes sense to me. I never had so much conflicting information (besides religion) on a subject before. But a simple inline splice should not harm the circuit I would think.
@@bleirdo_dude if you're wanting to continue power through the resistor than yes I would hook up the third leg to allow another circuit to follow in line...if that makes sense ... coding is something I'm having a hard time getting into...
@@standbyme6395 I'm just going to input to lug #1, output to wiper lug #2, and ground lug #3 (both to pot case & pcb). Thanks
Adjustable resistor on circuit board explained
6pin potentiometer what do you work
A 6-pin potentiometer is nothing more than 2 pots sharing a single shaft. These are commonly used as "balance" controls for stereo audio equipment. In this case, they are effectively 2 "volume" controls, with one wired "backward", so that, as one channel gets louder, the other gets quieter, and vice-versa. There are, of course, other uses for these, although they can also be used as just a single pot, if no others are available.
KLAY, THANKS BRO
for speaking English...
All I heard on the last one was dirka dirka Dual dirka chutiya
Or sum lol
The drawing looks like a Variac.
the lender pot circuit you draw is wired up for a catastprohe waithing to happen for the unlucly source you hook upp to this blend pot shorting ouy the output off the souce when you turn you pot all the way to one of the sides.that is shorting out the source output witch is no good.Never hook a active source direct up to the viperpin on a potmeter for a volum control between a source and a power amplifier either.you should always hook the wiperpin up to power amp input and source to the left pin and ground on the rigth pin seen from above
I think you are wrong!wiper leg and leg 3 would be a variable parralel coupled resitor/potmeter.if you have 100k will be 50k?lbetter to use a 50K instead.?all of those values is to high to use on good audio amlifiers pre volum/dac volum or power amp input gain.give to much noise.10k and 20K give less noise is my experience
Look I just want to speed a bloody scooter up 😆🤦
do you need paper bud????- I think I can spare 10 sheets... screw it I will send 15 whole sheets- just give me your mailing address-
there is a reson for do wire it the rigth way aound .are you kidding.?if you wire it thre other waya round you have to turn volum counterclockwice.the other thing is a volum pot is not a linear potmeter.if you use a linear pot you can hook it up both ways exept you have to turn the opesite way you get the same level rise .but on a volum potmeter that are logoritmic scale resistance .so it lower the resistance in a non linear way do to the human hearing sensitivity it raice the volum gradual.but a linear you get pretty high volum straigth away no matter the way they are wired. a volum control potmeter or better a autenator smaller than the mono pot you show on the video wich are not linear have to be wired one way.wired the wrong way you have to turn clockwice to raice volum and the steps volum is been raised is hopless different
This demonstration,is wrong, please.Terminal 1, is for grounding while terminal 3,is for the input.If you put the input current,in terminal 1,the resistive material, would burn out