What is a voltage potentiometer?
A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact. It is an adjustable voltage divider with two static contacts and one moving contact. Potentiometer generally used in speakers and receivers for volume control.
How does a voltage potentiometer work?
Potentiometers work by varying the position of a sliding contact across a uniform resistance. In a potentiometer, the entire input voltage is applied across the whole length of the resistor, and the output voltage is the voltage drop between the fixed and sliding contact as shown below.
How do you choose a potentiometer for voltage control?
Select the correct range. A potentiometer does you no good if it covers a range of zero ohms to 100 ohms but you need it to operate up to 1000 ohms. Conversely, if you need to make adjustments of 10 ohms, you’ll find a range of 1,000 ohms too coarse to adjust.
What is the basic principle of potentiometer?
The principle of a potentiometer is that the potential dropped across a segment of a wire of uniform cross-section carrying a constant current is directly proportional to its length. The potentiometer is a simple device used to measure the electrical potentials (or compare the e.m.f of a cell).
What are the characteristics of potentiometer?
The taper, resolution, hop on hop off resistance and the marking codes are the main characteristics of a potentiometer. There are many applications of a potentiometer, from audio controller circuit to measuring distances, angle or voltages. It is very versatile in nature.
What can a potentiometer control in a circuit?
The potentiometer is a handy little component that you really should know how to use. It’s used in circuits a lot, such as to control the volume of music equipment, control the brightness of a light, and much more. If you’re not familiar with it, it can seem complicated to use in a circuit.
Why does a potentiometer is an analog device?
A potentiometer is an analog device, meaning it communicates its position by varying the voltage rather than sending discrete ones and zeros. If a linear potentiometer is turned half way then the output of the pot will be at half the voltage of the input.
What is a digital potentiometer?
Digital potentiometer. Jump to navigation Jump to search. A digital potentiometer (also called a resistive digital-to-analog converter, or informally a digipot) is a digitally-controlled electronic component that mimics the analog functions of a potentiometer. It is often used for trimming and scaling analog signals by microcontrollers .