trimmers pots vs. pots

Bobb Fwed

I am curious what the difference between potentiometers vs. trimmer potentiometers, or is there one?

Chris Savage

Bobb,

Since your question is off-topic I am moving it to the Sandbox Forum.· Trimmer pots are quite often multi-turn to facilitate finer adjustments. Even when they are not they are often built to be adjusted easily with a screwdriver from either a horizontal or vertical position. These ¾ turn pots don’t usually have any kind of shroud that is typical on standard potentiometers.

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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support

Bobb Fwed

but electronically they function the same, right?

Chris Savage

Correct. Of course, you should always observe the power rating as this can vary between the two types. One other difference I almost forgot about is that Trimmer pots are pretty much always linear devices, whereas standard potentiometers can be linear or logarithmic.

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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support

Bobb Fwed

thanks

sameer xzx

will there be any change if i put trimmer rather than putting pot

Mike Green

A trimmer is a pot (POTentiometer), just with a different mechanical arrangement. They're actually called "trimmer pots" or "trim pots".

sameer xzx

so, now i can use trimmer in place of pot
i am sure it wont make much difference

LoopyByteloose

I strongly suspect there are two important differences in timmer pots and other pots.

A. a wear factor. Timmer pots were originally set and forget items, not intended for analog controls that are accessed on a front panel, like a volume control. A lot of motion may quickly wear them out.

B. a power factor. Timmer pots are generally very low power. These days, a lot of them are 1/10th of a watt or less. Traditional pots for tube hifi and other applications might be able to handle 5 watts or more.