1. Home
  2. Embedded Programming
  3. Simulation Potentiometer Recommendation?

Simulation Potentiometer Recommendation?

Hi,

I have a potentiometer on a simulation board used to simulate an A/D input to a microcontroller-based product.

The pot is a Radio Shack $1.99 kind of model. It worked OK for about 2 months and now it is behaving erratically.

Application is low-current, strictly transducer stuff.

Can anyone recommend a better style of potentiometer to use that will behave more precisely and last longer?

Constraints are:

a)Should be no more than 1-2 turn (it is operated manually, and a 10-turn pot would be a pain).

b)Should be mechanically capable of accepting a knob (a screwdriver is too much work).

Cost is no object. I'd go up to $25 if it would last a year.

Thanks, Dave.

Reply to
David T. Ashley
Loading thread data ...

try Midori America in L.A.

conductive plastic pots.

Reply to
Bill Chernoff

Anything should be better than a Radio Shack. You are looking for generic carbon pots, which come in various tapers, such as logarithmic, linear, etc. Digikey should produce something. Salvaging something from an older radio/tv volume or tone control should do.

--
Chuck F (cbfalconer@yahoo.com) (cbfalconer@worldnet.att.net)
   Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems.
     USE worldnet address!
Reply to
CBFalconer

Hello CBFalconer,

Those are actually the best. Those big old encapsulated monster pots. I never had one of them fail on me so far.

Regards, Joerg

formatting link

Reply to
Joerg

The gold standard is conductive plastic over a wirewound element, but if you don't have too many bits of resolution, a cermet pot should work well enough for you, at least to 10+ bits of settability.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com
Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.