What type of variable resistors can be used to control a 12v high amp battery

Question

What type of variable resistors can be used to control a 12v high amp battery

Answer 1

The answer depends on the amount of current to be drawn from the battery through the resistor(s).  If you want a small amount of current (say 10 milliamperes or less), you can use an ordinary potentiometer with 1 kOhm resistance, with 1/4 Watt power rating or more.  

Higher current will be lower resistance and higher power (the power increases proportionally to the current (P = I * E, power = current times voltage).  There are variable resistors (called rheostats, in most cases) with very high current and power ratings.  

You'll have to watch for the heat generated as the resistance goes down!  It will be easy to get burned, literally.

Answer 2

You need low ohms and high watts. How many ohms is "low"? How many watts is "high"? I don't know. How many amps is a "high amp battery"? How many amps do you want in the load? How many amps will the load take if you don't put a resistor in?

Here is a link to some low ohm, high watt resistors.

http://www.postglover.com/resistortypes....

Answer 3

need a lot more details.

But in general, it doesn't work. The resistors have to be very high power, hundreds of watts, and you may need a different value for each application.

Much better to go with regulators, or switching regulators.

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