trimmers pots vs. pots

Comments

• Chris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406

  2008-06-16 16:12 edited 2008-06-16 16:12

  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 Posts: 1,119

  2008-06-16 16:35 edited 2008-06-16 16:35

  but electronically they function the same, right?
• Chris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406

  2008-06-16 16:46 edited 2008-06-16 16:46

  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 Posts: 1,119

  2008-06-16 16:53 edited 2008-06-16 16:53

  thanks
• sameer xzx Posts: 2

  2013-05-20 06:26 edited 2013-05-20 06:26

  will there be any change if i put trimmer rather than putting pot
• Mike Green Posts: 23,101

  2013-05-20 06:39 edited 2013-05-20 06:39

  A trimmer is a pot (POTentiometer), just with a different mechanical arrangement. They're actually called "trimmer pots" or "trim pots".
• sameer xzx Posts: 2

  2013-05-20 07:28 edited 2013-05-20 07:28

  so, now i can use trimmer in place of pot
  i am sure it wont make much difference
• LoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537

  2013-05-20 07:35 edited 2013-05-20 07:35

  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.