Questions tagged [rheostat]
34 questions
23
votes
2 answers
Why would you short two pins of a potentiometer?
I've found a potentiometer which controls the heat of a cook top. One of the outer pins and the centre pin were shorted with a soldered jumper.
Why would someone do that? What does this achieve?

user1937747
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4
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Can this WWII era rheostat be modified to dim an LED bulb?
I have a WWII era RAF chart-board lamp in perfect unused condition. I want to use an LED bulb with the original dimmer as tungsten runs so hot. I want to avoid rewiring or bypassing the dimmer as the original cabling is in such good condition.
The…

Walter Hutton
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3
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3 answers
0-10V Digital Rheostat for LED Dimmer?
I have an LED light with a power supply that follows the ISO 60929 0-10V standard for dimming. The manufacturer says "the power supply is current sourcing, and is roughly 0.5mA."
The following diagram is representative of this circuit. The power…

par
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3
votes
3 answers
How much power is wasted with a light dimmer?
I have my rotational light dimmer and am wondering the logic behind it.
If it is a potentiometer, when fully off, it should be wasting lets say 50V of power if not using a transistor. By logical design:
1) Should it have an extremely low voltage…

Blake
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2
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1 answer
Is this explanation of the workings of a rheostat consistent with the diagram?
I came across this description of a rheostat along with a diagram:
...The best example is the traditional dial controlling volume on a radio. The outer ring, or toroid coil, consists of a resistive wire wrapped in a spiral about a ring of…

puwlah
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2
votes
3 answers
Using a potentiometer to control greater resistance
This is more a theoretical question: Let's say we use a potentiometer as a variable resistor. We can set it from 0% (0Ω) to 100% (let's say 1Ω for simplicity).
Using this pot we can reduce the total range of resistances covered by the 0% to 100% by…

flawr
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2
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5 answers
Choosing a rheostat
I have a cartridge heater with the following specs: 50W and 220V AC.
I would like to control it with a rheostat, but I am not sure how to pick an appropriate rheostat. Could someone give me a hand?

JJuradotx
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2
votes
1 answer
Current limiter for homemade arc welder
I'm would like to control the AC current that is will be consumed by a homemade arc welder. Website I used as a reference: http://www.mike-worth.com/2013/07/31/adding-a-current-limiter-to-my-mot-welder/
He converted a transformer to a rheostat (blue…

invulnarable27
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1
vote
1 answer
Op-amp for amplifying a low voltage DC input
I have a 0.1-4.4ohm rheostat I need to feed to an ADC(assume 10 bit) within a microcontroller. I will do some maths with the counts and eventually set digipots to control some external equipment. The rheostat is on the headlight dimmer switch of a…

Dustin Goitia
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1
vote
1 answer
Rheostat for a wire feed
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?

Ahaze
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1
vote
1 answer
AB 984246 8821 Allen Bradley
In Bayliner boat OMC stern Drives, the trim sensor used an Allen Bradley potentiometer/rheostat. The number on the back of the case is: 984246 8821 J. I believe it is a reverse log design with a 'D' shaft. I'm not sure I can trust my measurement as…

Tony Roussos
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1
vote
1 answer
Resistance/Voltage relation in Rheostat?
According to "How Computers Work" (Tenth Edition) by Ron White, he features a graphic of a potentiometer with three terminals on the bottom with the one on the left being for current flowing in and the center terminal connected to a wiper for…

Tristan
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1
vote
1 answer
Rheostat with Hydraulic Amplifier Card
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
I am designing a control system for a Hydraulic Valve Amplifier Card (Bosch VT-VSPA2-1) and I need to send an analog input signal to the card, which the card translates into valve spool…

JCR
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1
vote
2 answers
reducing a 12volt fan speed
I bought a 12volt, 80 watt aftermarket fan for a car. What I'm making is a portable swamp cooler for my tent when I move to AZ this summer. I plan to charge a 30 amp, deep discharge trolling motor by both a 400 watt power inverter in my car, as well…

keith
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1
vote
2 answers
Purpose of rheostat in measuring resistance
I was given task to measure the resistance of different length of same conductor to find the relationship between length and resistance. The circuit diagram is something like this:
The resistance,R is replace with different length of the conductor …

JF9199
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