Good quality pots no longer made? Can't find a single turn, 50k wirewound pot!

CuriousOne

Hello.

For certain project, I need linear, 47k or 50k pot, single turn, wirewound, 2w. Requirements are fixed and no way/will to change them.

What can be simple you might think so?

No way, real life says!

Digikey, Mouser, Ebay - simply have no such pot! All they have is bourns 10 turn pot, which itself is great, bought it a while ago, but it is 10 turns, and I need a single turn, 47k or 50k, 2w wirewound linear pot

erco

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-50-000-OHM-WIREWOUND-POTENTIOMETER-50K-/230996882498?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35c87cb442#ht_565wt_921

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50K-Ohm-3-Terminals-6mm-Shaft-Variable-Resistor-Wirewound-Potentiometer-/310651055333?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48543eece5#ht_1809wt_966

Ebay is rife with 10-turn pots.

kwinn

Problem may be with the 2 watt part of the spec. Not much of a market for high power pots any more so they are hard to find.

CuriousOne

Yes, I even tried to revert to military surplus and ordered this massive 4W one:

(RWV) CLR4239-50K

http://www.surplussales.com/Potentiometers/PBM-Shafted/PBM-Shafted-8.html

(first in the bottom row)

It arrived in very fancy package, sized like hamster's grave, heavy padded carton box, and pot itself was packed into lead foil. But looks like time did it's business on it, so it had bad contact right out of the box.

LoopyByteloose

Audiophile sites will have wire-wound 2 watt pots of excellent quality.

There is one web site in or around New York City that specializes in these kind of components.

http://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46060

http://www.cbsmart.com/stereo.htm

http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Vintage.html

I did a few years back buy some Japanese audio quality pots that were about $12 USD each and new.

Bourns has a ProAudio product line

http://www.bourns.com/ProAudio.aspx

Jameco has a 100k 1 turn wire wound 2 watt... too bad you can not adapt to that instead!

http://www.jameco.com/1/3/wirewound-pot

erco

That first one I listed from Pacific TV is a 4 watt unit: http://mirrors.muleslow.net/pacifictv.ca/blowout.htm

kwinn

Loopy Byteloose wrote: »

Audiophile sites will have wire-wound 2 watt pots of excellent quality.

.....................................................

True, but those are typically audio taper rather than linear pots.

LoopyByteloose

Not necessarily all audio taper. Elliot Sound Products has well-documented how to exploit linear pots that provide a suitable taper for audio.

http://sound.westhost.com/pots.htm

Franklin

Also on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-50-000-OHM-WIREWOUND-POTENTIOMETER-50K/230996882498?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D8514346915927859239%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D230649173436%26

davejames

...check this Digikey listing; there's one from Vishay. Ain't cheap, but available:

http://www.digikey.com/scripts/dksearch/dksus.dll?pv1=574&pv23=2&pv1083=6&FV=fff40004%2Cfff80335&k=potentiometer&mnonly=0&newproducts=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25


There are a number of pots toward the bottom of the page:

http://www.surplussales.com/Potentiometers/PBM-Shafted/PBM-Shafted-8.html

erco

Man, does this Forum rally and deliver or what?

CuriousOne

The surplussales one already bought and not of good quality, digikey wishay offering is way too expensive. Currently I'm considering this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CERAMIC-WIRE-WOUND-POTENTIOMETER-PPB-25G-47-kOhms-25-WATT-1-/261183521612?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ccfc0434c