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Forums
Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Potentiometer or Rheostat: Which is more versatile in circuit design?
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[QUOTE="Ocata, post: 6016923, member: 537191"] What's the difference between incoporating a rheostat and a potentiometer into a simple circuit? When you decrease the wiper resistance on a potentiometer, the voltage drop between the potentiometer resistance and load resistance changes so that there's a greater voltage at the load. Well, when you decrease the wiper resistance in a rheostat, the voltage drop ratio between the rheostat and the load changes as well. So when you decrease the wiper resistance on either the rheostat or a potentiometer, you allow greater voltage to the load. When you decrease the wiper resistance on either device, you are also allowing more current to flow to the load. So with both devices, adjusting the wiper arm adjusts both voltage and current to the source. The only difference I can see between the two devices is that a rheostat will provide a single path of current from the voltage source through the load while a potentiometer will provide an alternate/additional path for current, some current through the load and some bypassing the load through the parallel arrangement. Either way, adjusting the wiper of either device will adjust voltage and current (thus power) at the load. So why would one device be preferred over the other in various circuits? What is the purpose of having the extra path of current in a potentiometer? What can a potentiometer do that a rheostat can't? [/QUOTE]
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Electrical Engineering
Potentiometer or Rheostat: Which is more versatile in circuit design?
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