Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Identitying an Electronic Component that resembles a Potentiometer

Status
Not open for further replies.

ssylee

New Member
I found a part in my boxes with the dial freely rotating between their limits. It locks in place at one of the limits. I thought it is a rotary potentiometer, but there are other terminals on it, hence why I don't know what exactly it is. I have attached a photo in this question. It would be greatly appreciated to hear back from someone about this component. Thanks.**broken link removed**
 
Last edited:
Then how do you explain the extra terminals (I thought potentiometers typically only have 3 terminals)?
 
Thanks. I'll take the word for it...for now.
About 15 sec with your Ohmmeter will tell all. You do own a Multimeter, don't you?
 
The pot terminals should be the center 3 and the switch contacts are on opposite sides/ends
 
Here you can see the switch contacts on the back.
 

Attachments

  • pot -switch.jpg
    pot -switch.jpg
    11.8 KB · Views: 503
I tried measuring the resistance between 2 of the middle three contacts. No luck. I remember using this on a strobe light project, and this part is one of the spares.
 
Here, I'll make it easy for you:
POT.png
The resistance will change between either one of the legs and the wiper as the shaft is rotated. You will see no resistance change between the legs.
 
Last edited:
**broken link removed**

Its a quaint old low-voltage switch pot. I haven't seen one of those used since the 70's. They used to be common as the volume/pwr switch in old trasistor radios and such.
 
Since the 70s? I still see those kinds of power/volume controls on inexpensive car radios going back to the 90s. I had a 93 neon with an aftermarket radio that I scrapped which had many pots like that, one of them had the ballance/fade and a couple other controls on it, it had like 6 seperate pots on a common shaft, depending on how the knob was pulled out/pushed in it would turn specific pots on back.
 
I think MrRB is referring to that specific style of POT. It was very popular in 70's equipment, especially smaller battery powered stuff.
 
Last edited:
Since the 70s? I still see those kinds of power/volume controls on inexpensive car radios going back to the 90s. I had a 93 neon with an aftermarket radio that I scrapped which had many pots like that, one of them had the ballance/fade and a couple other controls on it, it had like 6 seperate pots on a common shaft, depending on how the knob was pulled out/pushed in it would turn specific pots on back.

Sceadwean's right. Back in my ole town these things still make it through the last decade. Now with digital control these things are gonna be flattened and kept in an album of antiques. So sad...
 
Not really that sad, the more modern controls are easier to use and cheaper to make.
 
It's common for the newer switch pots to have enclosed switches, they usually look like a coloured plastic box on the rear of the pot.

That photo of the switch with the tiny bakelite lever and tin plated exposed hook contact looks very '70's to me. It just needs bellbottom pants and platform shoes and it would be perfect.
;)
 
I tried measuring the resistance between 2 of the middle three contacts. No luck. I remember using this on a strobe light project, and this part is one of the spares.

Maybe you fried it the last time you tried to use it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top