ARDUINO

Potentiometer
 What is Potentiometer?
■ A potentiometer is a manually adjustable variable resistor with 3 terminals.
■ Two of the terminals are connected to the opposite ends of a resistive element, and the
third terminal connects to a sliding contact, called a wiper, moving over the resistive
element.
■ The potentiometer essentially functions as a variable resistance divider.
■ The resistive element can be seen as two resistors in series (the total potentiometer
resistance), where the wiper position determines the resistance ratio of the first resistor
to the second resistor. If a reference voltage is applied across the end terminals, the
position of the wiper determines the output voltage of the potentiometer.
■ A potentiometer is also commonly known as a potmeter or pot.
■ The most common form of potmeter is the single turn rotary potmeter. This type of pot
is often used in audio volume control (logarithmic taper) as well as many other
applications. Different materials are used to construct potentiometers, including 
carbon composition, cermet, wirewound, conductive plastic or metal film.
A potentiometer is a manually adjustable, variable resistor with three terminals. Two terminals are
connected to the ends of a resistive element, the third terminal is connected to an adjustable wiper.
The position of the wiper sets the resistive divider ratio.
 Rotary Potentiometers
The most common type of potentiometer where the wiper moves along a circular path.

TYPE DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FIGURE SYMBOL

Most common pot,
Single rotation of
used in applications
Single-turn approximately 270
where a single turn
pot degrees or 3/4 of a full
provides enough
turn
control resolution.
Multiple rotations
(mostly 5, 10 or 20), for Used where high
increased precision. precision and
They are constructed resolution is required.
Multi-turn pot
either with a wiper that The worm-gear multi
follows a spiral or helix turn pots are often used
form, or by using a as trimpots on PCB
worm-gear.
Types of Potentiometers
The most common type of potentiometer where the wiper moves along a circular path.

TYPE DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FIGURE SYMBOL

Two potentiometer
combined on the same
shaft, enabling the
Used in for example
parallel setting of two
stereo audio volume
channels. Most
Dual-gang control or other
common are single turn
pot applications where 2
potentiometers with
channels have to be
equal resistance and
adjusted in parallel.
taper. More than two
gangs are possible but
not very common.
 Types of Potentiometers
The most common type of potentiometer where the wiper moves along a circular path.

TYPE DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FIGURE SYMBOL

Dual potmeter, where the

two potentiometers are
Often encountered in (older) car
individually adjusted by
Concentric pot radios, where the volume and tone
means of concentric
controls are combined.
shafts. Enables the use of
two controls on one unit.

Used where manual and automatic

A motorized potmeter
adjustment is required. Often seen in
which can also be
Servo pot audio equipment, where the remote-
automatically adjusted by
control can turn the volume control
a servo motor.
knob.
 Types of Potentiometers
The most common type of potentiometer where the wiper moves along a circular path.

TYPE DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FIGURE SYMBOL

Trimmers or trimpots are
a special type of rotary
potentiometer that can be
fixed once in the circuit They are common
and used to make materials used as the
Presets and
Trimmers
occasional adjustments to resistive track is either
the circuit. The rotary carbon composition or
wiper on the POT can be cement. 
adjusted by using a small
bladed screwdriver or a
similar plastic tool.
 Linear Potentiometers
Potentiometers where the wiper moves along a linear path. Also known as slider, slide pot or fader.
TYPE DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FIGURE SYMBOL

Single linear slider

potentiometer, for
audio applications For single channel
also known as a fader. control or
Slide pot
High quality faders measurement of
are often constructed distance.
from conductive
plastic.

Often used for stereo

Dual slide
control in professional
potentiometer, single
audio or other
Dual-slide pot slider controlling two
applications where
potentiometers in
dual parallel channels
parallel.
are controlled.
Linear Potentiometers
Potentiometers where the wiper moves along a linear path. Also known as slider, slide pot or fader.
TYPE DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FIGURE

Constructed from a spindle Used where high precision

which actuates a linear and resolution is required.
potentiometer wiper. The multi turn linear pots are
Multi-turn slide
Multiple rotations (mostly 5, used as trimpots on PCB, but
10 or 20), for increased not as common as the worm-
precision. gear trimmer potentiometer.

Used where manual and

automatic adjustment is
Fader which can be required. Common in studio
Motorized fader automatically adjusted by a audio mixers, where the servo
servo motor. faders can be automatically
moved to a saved
configuration.
Digital Potentiometers and Rheostat
■ Digital potentiometers are potentiometers which are controlled
electronically. In most cases they exist of an array of small resistive
components in series. Every resistive element is equipped with a
switch which can serve as the tap-off point or virtual wiper position.
■ A digital potmeter can be controlled by for example up/down signals
or protocols like IC and SPI.

 A potentiometer can also be wired as a rheostat, or single variable

resistance.
 The best way to wire a potentiometer as a rheostat is to connect the
wiper and one end terminal together, this prevents infinite resistance
if the wiper occasionally loses contact.
 Materials Used for Potmeters
MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Carbon composition ink molded on a substrate(phenolic resin). Most common material,

Carbon composition
low cost and reasonable noise and wear characteristics.

Wirewound pots can handle high power,are long lasting and can be very precise. They have
Wirewound however a limited resolution and rough feel. Most used in high power applications
(rheostats are often wirewound) or as precision pots.

Very smooth feel and high resolution, can be constructed to perform millions of cycles. Can
Conductive plastic only handle a limited power and are expensive. Often used in high-end (audio) equipment
where a high resolution and low noise are important.

Very stable, low temperature coefficient and handles high temperatures well. On the other
Cermet hand quite expensive and often limited amount of cycles allowed(special long-life cermet
pots also exist). Often used for trimpots which do not have to be adjusted often.
Marking Codes
■ The potentiometer’s value is mostly marked on top of the device as an exact value like
100K for a 100KΩ potentiometer. Sometimes they are represented as a three-digit code,
the first two digits of the code represent the value of the POT and the last digit
represents the multiplier.

Example
Consider the three-digit code on the pot as
103, as is said we can expand the code as
10Ω x 103 = 10 kΩ, This means that the
potentiometer of value 10KΩ will have a
marking “103” as shown in the picture.
Potentiometer Symbol
■ The following symbol is used for a potentiometer. The potentiometer symbol on the left
is according to the IEC standard.
■ The potentiometer symbol on the right is according to the old American ANSI standard,
but is still widely used. An overview of resistor symbols is also available in the 
Resistor Guide.
Examples problem
1. Create a program in Arduino and in proteus that will record the output value of the
potentiometer using serial monitor in proteus.
 END OF
DISCUSSION