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Why solder two of the pots pins together?

chottu

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Why solder either the left or right pins of a pots pins to the middle pin together?
whats the reason for this? and what are the different pins for -my guess is that the one on the right is voltage out and the one on the right is voltage in.that leaves the middle pin.y do we solder it to either of the other two pins?
 





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As the wiper moves it can make spikes. When connected to the third pin the spiking decreases because of the much lower resistance, rather than just air.
 
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In between the 2 outer pins is a resistancw track, the middle pin goes to a wiper that rubs across the track, so the resistance changes as the pot is turned.
The reason you should connect one end to the middle is that should the pot fail (due to the wiper not touching the track) the circuit will go to the highest resistance. If the pins are not connected together the same fault would cause the pot to go open circuit.

The drawing shows more or less what it looks like inside a pot.

Regards rog8811

[edit]What he said /\ but in a more verbose form :)[/edit]
 

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chottu

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So should i connect the middle pin to the right pin that is the v out or to the v in that is the left pin? (refered to arronx987's picture)

I think i should follow the figure on the left as it saves the diode right?
also how do i now when the pot is at full resistance without using a diode.
 
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I think i should follow the figure on the left as it saves the diode right?

The fixed resistor  should save the LD, the drawing only shows that connected one way you turn clockwise to decrease resistance, connect it the other way and turning clockwise increases the resistance
also how do i now when the pot is at full resistance without using a diode.
You measure it with a DVM (multimeter) and of course you check it when you test the circuit with the dummy/test load you are going to make

Regards rog8811
 

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