Potentiometer Question.?

Question

I just bought a potentiometer from Radio Shack (271-215). I bought it in hopes of adding a volume control to an arcade style Golden Tee i just bought. Its way loud most of the time and i want to wire this right into the speaker. This is the first time i've had to deal with something other than simple switches. Can anyone help me with what the 6 hookups are? I checked online for a diagram but couldn't find one.

In the middle, under the k**b, there are three hookups right next to each other, and it appears they are numbered 1,2,3. Then underneath there are 3 more hook ups, one on an edge, and another two that are just facing one another.

If theres something more specific about the potentiometer you need to know, feel free to answer and i'll get you what you need. Thanks

Answer 1

You bought a potentiometer with a switch (I looked it up on Radioshack.com).

You won't need to use the switch terminals (the ones on the bottom) -- only the terminals that are 3 in-a-row (1,2,3)..

BUT.... here's the problem...

For volume control to work directly with a speaker it needs to have two things:

1) It needs to have a resistance much closer to the resistance of the speaker (like 8 Ohms, or 16 Ohms, or 4 Ohms -- common speaker resistances).  The potentiometer you bought is 10,000 Ohms; waay too high.

2) It has to be rated at a power level that is compatible with the speaker.

For this pot. to work you would have to 'break' into the circuit board and find the spot before the final audio power amplifier, and make the modifications to add a volume control.  You probably don't want to do that.

I would suggest taking the 271-215 back to RS and getting this, instead:

271-265  25-Ohm 3-Watt Rheostat

The rheostat (the name for a 'high power' potentiometer) has 3 terminals like the other one.  We'll call them 1, 2, and 3.  Terminal #2 is the center one.

Wire it like this:

1) Disconnect *one* of the arcade speaker wires, but leave one of them connected.

2) On the speaker wire/terminal that remained connected, add a wire to the speaker terminal and connect it to terminal 3 on the rheostat.

3) Connect the disconnected speaker wire to terminal 1on the rheostat.

4) Connect terminal 2 on the rheostat to the unconnected speaker terminal.

Now, you should have a volume control.

IF the control is backwards (clockwise = lower volume), then switch the wires on terminal 1 and 3; swap the wire on terminal 1 with the two wires on terminal 3.  (I cannot tell without seeing the actual control whether terminal 1 or 3 should be the 'input', so I am making a 50/50 guess in steps 1 - 4).

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