Control 3 pots from one?

C

Cat1yst

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
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1,616
Hello all,

Basically i want to try to control 3 of my fan controllers pots from one pot, is this possible?

I also assume that they are pots after all, though they have the abbreviation VR(1) (2) (3) imprinted on the PCB.

PS. I never knew there were THAT many components to a fan controller... i thought it was just a VRM, a couple transitors and a pot.
 
"VR" = "variable resistor" Just another name for a pot.

Without having a schematic of the fan controller, it's impossible to tell whether you can control all of them from one, but chances are it's a "no". The pots might be used in a 555 timer configuration, or they could be used just as a voltage input, or they could be used as inputs to a microcontroller.

It's *possible* to design a fan controller which allows one pot to control the others, but it'd have to be a custom sort of thing.
 
ok thanks, ill try to dig up a schematic, but i dont think it will be feasible.

Thanks again
 
Can they be put in sync or linear to achieve that?


BTW, you thread title reads as if you are cooking something illegal. :D
 
...and the conversation is about to sound worse :)

There IS a way to go about it but you will need what is called a 3-gang pot. Basically, a a single gang pot is a standard pot, a double-gang is two pots sharing a single shaft, triple gang is of course 3 pots sharing the same shaft.

The main requirements are that all of the pots are the same value. I have seen several 10K 3-gang pots on ebay. So they do exist.

You can also use higher gang numbers and just leave the extra's unconnected.

For example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NOBLE-500K-Ohm-...229?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item2eafc6395d


Is a 500K 4-Gang pot, just hook up three and leave the fourth untouched.



EDIT: As for the complexity most use a PWM circuit instead of a true variable voltage circuit. Variable voltage circuits are quite inefficient compared to a PWM circuit.
 
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PedroDaGr8 said:
EDIT: As for the complexity most use a PWM circuit instead of a true variable voltage circuit. Variable voltage circuits are quite inefficient compared to a PWM circuit.
Click to expand...
Well, if it's designed properly, using a buck converter, then it can be quite efficient. A lot of cheap controllers, however, just burn off the extra voltage with a linear regulator, giving off a bunch of heat with no added benefit.
 
VERY true but a PWM requires much less knowledge to implement than a buck converter, a basic voltage regulator even less..
 
just put rubber bands around linking the knobs you want ganged... lol
 
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