Pot Broken ?

[diachi]

Just a quick question, is it possible to break a pot in such a way that turning it acts like a switch ?

I was turning the pot down on my 30mW Romisen, just to see if I could get it closer to 5mW, which I did, then I turned it back up and it just 'broke' the laser stopped lasing, so I turned it up a smidgen, and it was on FULL POWER so then I turned it back the other way past the 'non lasing point' and it went straght back to full power :-?

Can anyone help ?

Thanks.

-Adam

 

[diachi]

Ohh never mind, it seems I turned it too far, I think it's fixed now :

 

[Ace82]

I think that pots have "stops" that prevent it from turning complete 360, and I've had a few break where they turn and turn but still act like a pot. Guess you're all good though now huh, that's good. ;D

 

[diachi]

Yeah, It's really over powered now though Can only leave it on for 5 seconds, I might take it apart later .

 

[diachi]

Oooh now it's mode hopping  ;D

 

[GooeyGus]

those little tiny pots dont have any stops, so you have to look at the wiper to see what the position is on the pot itself. If you look on the surface of the pot itself, you will see a black horseshoe shape, which is the resistance material, then all the screw you will see one tiny point which is touching that material. Thats how you can tell what position the pot is in. The flat part of the screw is directly opposite of where the wiper (the part that touches the resistive material) is. I hope that makes sense ;D ;D

Oh also, if you look at the pot, one side should have two solder contacts, and one side has one. If you position the 'flat' part of the screw between the two conacts, you are at 50% of the the pots travel.

 

[TheGr8Revealing]

it is possible to break little pots by over rotating. Once you go to far... it'll never go back.