Rheostat for a wire feed

Question

I have a 16 ohm 1.25 ampere 25 watt rheostat that has gone bad. Is it okay to replace it with a 16 ohm 1.7 ampere 50 watt rheostat?

Using only 1.25 A/ 1.7A means next time it won’t burn out the contacts fast. (Arhennius Law) in theory about 4 times longer and more if used on resistive loads. , but for speakers on high damping ratio power amps limited to 25W. A woofer damping ratio is degraded badly RL/Rs. WD40 comes to mind with 101 uses. — Tony Stewart EE75, Mar 23 '21 at 06:57
Why didn’t you say why it / how it failed? How does anyone know how many amps you are using? Maybe you need a 2A rheostat? — Tony Stewart EE75, Mar 23 '21 at 16:30

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 23 '21 at 05:13

1

Yes, using the rheostat below it’s maximum rating is fine.

answered Mar 23 '21 at 05:13

Frog

Yes. You have to worry if the max current and max power is low. – upali Mar 23 '21 at 10:55
Why did it fail then? – Tony Stewart EE75 Mar 23 '21 at 16:33

1 Answers1