How to replace Encoder w/ DETENTS volume POT

[coreysan]

I have ab obsolete DAC box that works great, but the main volume pot is bad. Since its obsolete, the company that made it won't

repair it, and I can't get a hold of a schematic.

I know that the pot has 6 pins for soldering to the board, and its rated at 100K. With that kind of very limited info, is it

possible to figure out how to replace it with a better one that will not go bad in a year or two?

Its a crazy request, but I don't know what else to do - these pots are very unreliable. When the box was being serviced,

I had the knob replaced every other year.

I have some experience with analog pots, and they are super easy to replace, but since this is an encoder, I'm not

familiar with 6 pins and what they do!

[Hawkeye]

Hi,

can you provide us with hi-res pictures of the failed component?

Did the volume control act "stepped" (= probably a digital encoder) or continous (= probably an analog potentiometer)?

If it says 100k, it is most likely a classic analog potentiometer (= variable resistor) and not a digital encoder - in any case you should be able to find a replacement part when browsing the larger online stores like mouser.com.

Greets,

Peter

Edited March 22, 2012 by Hawkeye

[julienvoirin]

x0xb0x dual lin pot part @50k

http://www.ladyada.net/images/parts/50K-B.jpg

BTW pots turn at 270°, encoders are endless

Edited March 23, 2012 by julienvoirin

[coreysan]

Thanks for this advice. I thought it was an analog pot because:

1. Its rated at 100K

2. It only has 270 degrees rotation.

But the manufacturer gave me description of a pot with detents.

So now I don't know what I have - why would an analog pot have 6 pins, plus

2 more pins for soldering the casing to ground?

I only know about simpler pots with 2 or 3 pins.

I'll try to get a picture!

[Hawkeye]

Look at juliens picture - same 6 pins plus 2 fastener pins.

As it is 270°, it is an analog pot, detention is also possible in analog pots, of course...

Could be a stereo pot which splits the resistor value for each channel = 2x3 pins plus two pins for better fastening the pot to the PCB.

Bye,

Peter

[julienvoirin]

a detent pot has a switch at the very low end

e.g : a cheap radio receiver - volume is controlled by the pot and at the very low end, it is the power on/off switch

6 pins pot = 2 pots in parallel. usage : stereo or dual circuit

[coreysan]

Thanks for all this help! I think I've identified what I have.

It looks Like a stereo analog pot, 8mm, with 3 pins for left,

3 pins for right. I should have figured that out!!

This was so helpful - thanks!