potentiometer
I'm trying to buy 6 potentiometers from a local electronic store.
All i have for the project is potentiometer codes , I'm not able to determine if its a log or a linear pot since there is code before the pot value.
POT1 dist 250K A
POT2 low 100K W
POT3 high 100K W
POT4 mid 100K W
POT5 top 10K B
POT6 volume 50k A
which code represents linear or log or other pot?
Incremental encoders often have a haptic detent, and most have a push-button built-in. The detent momentum to overcome the detents may vary from hardly feelable to a clear click. There are also encoders which run smoothly, without detents. Most encoders have between 12 and 30 detents (and also pulses) per revolution.
Some rotary Pot's com in Linear, Audio and reverse Audio (where audio=log taper)
Actually it is "quasi"-log scale and not precision logarithm.
Notice it has a rapid transition from two different linear slopes. which gives you more sensitivity over a wider range of audio inputs rather than an apparent Off to ON effect if using a linear pot. If one adjusts audio equipment over a 30 dB range, that might occur in the 1st 5% of a Linear pot.
Many options may be selected when you order.
Precision Log pots would be mcuch more expensive than
Best Answer
There's a good guide at Beginners' Guide to Potentiometers that includes the following table:
Being from an electronics supplier rather than from an old piece of equipment I'd say the A is logarithmic and the B is linear, but it may also vary by region. You'd hope the staff would be able to confirm but it sounds like that's not the case? You could also consider buying online from a place like Digi-Key or Element 14 where they will be properly documented.
This is a bit of a guess but I'd say the W stands for wirewound, they normally have a higher power rating than regular pots and one likely sign is that they'll tend to be slightly larger and more expensive than the others. If that's the case they are normally linear and doing a search at Element 14 all 202 results for a wirewound pot were linear.But based on e-bay search results it looks like the W suffix is commonly used for pots intended for balance control that have a center detent. Here was the resistance curve shown next to one product: