componentspinoutpotentiometer
I'm trying to make this circuit (components in question are R10 and R11). I have two really nice sliders I bought from Science + Surplus. Problem is, I'm a teensy bit confused on how to wire even regular pots – and these ones have eight (8!) pins each. I think they're dual-gang sliders for stereo systems, but I can't for the life of me pick out the three connections I should be making. Which are my left/right/wiper pins (or how can I find out)?
The sliders in question:
I'll suggest something wacky, in case you don't want to or can't modify your pots. How about connecting two standard potentiometers together with a mechanism, such that twisting a knob moves one pot, and twisting the knob in the other direction moves the other pot?
One possible way to do this is to have two linear pots with their grounded connections next to each other and electrically connected. Imagine a piece that goes between the two pots and it connected to both pot inputs via an elastomer (i.e. just wrap a rubber band around the pieces). When you move to the right, one linear pot will move freely, while the other is stuck against the hard stop. But because its connection to the input you're moving is elastic, the connection just stretches and doesn't risk breaking the pot. When you slide back in the other direction, the pot that was originally able to move will bottom out against its hard stop, while the one that was previously bottomed out will now move freely.
It's a little corny but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway. I can post a sketch if you like. :)
From the way you phrase it, it sounds like you are expecting the speed of the blinking LED to change or the frequency of the click output from the speaker to change. But I think you have the potentiometer set up in such a way where you should be looking at the brightness of the LED or the volume of the speaker. A sample schematic would be helpful.
A really simple circuit that should illustrate the difference would be to use just the potentiometer as a voltage divider and to graph the output.
Circuit from Potentiometers: what they are, how they work and how to use them with Arduino
Plot from Beginners' Guide to Potentiometers
Both links have good example circuits as well as videos (in the first case) or plots (in the second case) of what the results should be.
Best Answer
Using an Ohm Meter, measure any two pins until you get a reading of 10kΩ. Those will be the two far ends of that pot. Then picking any of those two pins to keep one of your meter leads on, measure a third pin, while changing the slide around. If you get a measurement on it that changes accordingly, you have found the wiper for that pot. Repeat for the pins of the second pot.