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I was going through a few circuit diagrams, and noticed that sometimes the centre contact, and one of the outer contacts were connected directly together. What is this point of this? Would it not just turn the pot into a big resistor??
The answer is, to lower the noise pickup of the circuit. With one end
completely open it is more susceptible to noise pickup.
This works especially nice if you can ground the end that is connected to
the wiper.
Another reason is to avoid a momentary open circuit if the pot wiper momentarily lifts while adjusting the pot. This could be important in certain types of circuits where a momentary open could cause a catastrophic voltage or current somewhere in the circuit.So why go through the trouble of connecting one end to the wiper then,
if you can get the same variable resistance without doing that?
The answer is, to lower the noise pickup of the circuit. With one end
completely open it is more susceptible to noise pickup.
This works especially nice if you can ground the end that is connected to
the wiper.
Another reason is to avoid a momentary open circuit if the pot wiper momentarily lifts while adjusting the pot. This could be important in certain types of circuits where a momentary open could cause a catastrophic voltage or current somewhere in the circuit.