Variable Resistors

Shop arrowelectronics.com.au for variable resistors from top manufacturers including Bourns, BI Technolo-gies, TE Connectivity, Vishay, Honeywell, TT Electronics and more. arrowelectronics.com.au features thou-sands of trimmers, potentiometers and rheostats for every application.

What is a variable resistor?

Variable resistors are resistors that can be adjusted via a slider or knob. These can be used in voltage dividers, or to directly regulate current flow as a rheostat. Variable resistors can either be linear (where a change in position directly correlates to a change in position) or used in a non-linear taper setup, commonly logarithmic.

Logarithmic tapers cause the change in resistance to follow a specified logarithmic curve, with respect to the physical position of the knob or slider. This can be important in audio applica-tions, to more closely mimic the perceived magnitude of changes in sound output to the human ear.

Knob-style potentiometers can either be single-turn or multi-turn devices, where the range of resistance levels is set over a “single”–commonly ~ 270°–turn or over a series of several rotations. Multi-turn setups can be especially useful when precision resistance settings are needed. Variable resistors may be designed for integration into a control board for frequent access, or as trimpots (trimmers), which are adjusted with a screwdriver and are meant to be set once or rarely.

Variable resistors are found across a wide range of commercial, residential, and industrial appli-cations, including in the automotive and medical sectors for instrumentation, lighting, volume control and more. arrowelectronics.com.au offers a wide range of resistance values, taper styles, physical characteristics, packaging styles, and operating temperature ranges.

Use arrowelectronics.com.au for more variable resistor information and to shop in-stock products from top variable resistor manufacturers today.