Can we ALL agree to this!? @#$@$#!

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jwhmca

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Jan 28, 2009
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That we will never, ever, never, never ,ever-ever, never-ever... Describe a potentiometer in schematics/ layouts etc. in any terms other than "LOG" - "LIN" - "RLOG" etc...

NO MORE "A" - "B" - "C" - "G" !!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, it's probably okay if you do.... it just seems so DUMB!
 
There can also be a combination of numbers and letters that describe the steepness/shape of the taper as well.  I don't think you will win this one.. ;)

http://www.alphapotentiometers.net/html/taper_curves.html
 
Many of the actual pots I buy are marked  "A"  "B"  "C"
so that's how I know by looking which kind of pot I have  , take it up with the manufacturers
[ unless you're just trying to stimulate the grp ]
 
Ha.
As someone who's been involved with electronics for over 40 years, it drives me mad when manufacturers and component suppliers change established standards.
It took me years to learn the resistor colour code and also what the colours and letters mean (uF nF pF) on certain capacitors.
Yet now they use all kinds of bizarre variants so that you can never really be sure what the actual value is without measuring the component on a meter.
It's true that pots have all kinds of strange letters now. When it was LIN, LOG etc. - at least you knew where you were.
Even on schematics you frequently have to guess what the pot is. For example 'A' might be for linear or it might be for Audio. By looking at the circuit and seeing that it's at the front of an amplifier design, one might reasonably conclude that its 'Audio'. Sometimes it might be something special like REV LOG.
Wouldn't it be better just to say that?
With modern manuafacturing it is actually possible now to print exactly what something is without having to rely on some suffix.
For example, high precision resistors now have their value written in tiny letters on the body e.g. 30k1
So it should be possible to write on a potentiometer something like: 10k LOG
 
Obviously, the problem I have with it, is the lack of a universal convention.

An AMPERE is an AMPERE- all over the world. We need to all speak the same language... A = LOG and LIN period... and that's just dumb.

But at least WE, as a collective, can all agree to mark or schematics etc... with LOG or LIN or at least...

"If you turn this knob to the left... I mean if you are facing the front panel, then the resistance will change slower at first, then all of a sudden like..."

Even that would be better than "A" or "B"

I hope they don't do that to Red and Green traffic lights...
 
> any terms other than "LOG"

You have never seen a true log pot.

> "If you turn this knob to the left...

Fascinating fact: volume knobs work backward from stove knobs.
 
jwhmca said:
.. A = LOG and LIN period... and that's just dumb.
Click to expand...

Not really:

Usually, in European nomenclature, letter as postfix, A means linear, B means log. Japanese nomenclature, letter as prefix, A means log, B means linear.

5KA = 5k linear
A5K = 5K log

Not really complicated, once you know it....

Jakob E.
 
We always think they way we learned something is or should be the standard. I have been calling audio taper A and linear B for as long as I can remember buying pots (Alps).

If you think you have a complaint people working in the healthcare services industry are having to learn an entirely new numbering system for medical diagnosis. Instead of ACA just adding new codes for the new added options, they renumbered the entire range of codes. Rather irritating to health workers who worked in the industry for decades and had the common ones memorized.  In hindsight they probably did it on purpose to prevent workers from writing in a close number that they did remember for the new more accurate one they would have to look up. 

JR
 
gyraf said:
jwhmca said:
.. A = LOG and LIN period... and that's just dumb.
Click to expand...

Not really:

Usually, in European nomenclature, letter as postfix, A means linear, B means log. Japanese nomenclature, letter as prefix, A means log, B means linear.

5KA = 5k linear
A5K = 5K log

Not really complicated, once you know it....

Jakob E.
Click to expand...

Ummm... Jakob, you posted exactly what I'm talking about.... In Japan A = LOG. Elsewhere A means LIN i.e. A = LOG & LIN... regardless of prefix/postfix

A = LOG & LIN, of course that's not complicated, And we can deal with reading a part number and figuring it out.... and remember the post/pre deal, which is news to me, and makes it a little better... BUT STILL!

My issue is: Why not just say LOG and LIN etc in the schematic?

Why don't we as a collective, all agree to eliminate ambiguity? It was a good topic to barstool about... lighthearted and a bit tongue'n'cheeky....

 
A means "audio" taper and is descriptive,  often used with a number to represent percentage R at 50% rotation, like A10 or A20.

Just to be practical who needs a simplified component labeling standard... DIY hobbyists?

Not going to happen.. especially with less and less humans involved in manufacturing.

When you purchase thousands of pots at a time the marking conventions provide adequate information and make sense.

IIRC there were a number of other tapers at least from Alps (S, RA, W?, etc.).

JR
 
I'm not talking about component labeling.

I'm talking about schematic marking.

That is all.
 
jwhmca said:
I'm not talking about component labeling.

I'm talking about schematic marking.

That is all.
Click to expand...

Again the primary function of modern schematics is to uniquely identify the part number or manufacturing system component identification.  Troubleshooting by factory technicians and even repair technicians do not need to know what the taper is, just is the part the right part for that hole in the pcb.

Sorry I am not trying to be argumentative, just offering perspective from the manufacturing POV. Some better schematics go back in and add typical voltages in use, some in the good old days even provided drawings of typical waveforms but not these days. Modern manufacturing processes can even measure the value of components before placing to confirm they are correct so only need the system part number to get the data from the spec file.  Manufacturing do not typically use the schematic drawings, but extract net lists and BOM from those schematics.

JR
 
Thanks John,

That helps me see why it hasn't been "standardized" as thoroughly as like "amps" or something.

I welcome the "argument", that's why I posted in this forum instead of elsewhere!

I could see why, and have most certainly consumed LARGE amounts of schematics and have had great admiration of the "schematic designer/drafter" when they give me the part number as apposed to the function... Now that I think about it... that's really a good thing... LOG LIN etc would work well in a block diagram...

I think I'm seeing the light...

BUT STILL, it would be nice if A - B etc was universal, just saying...
 
jwhmca said:
Obviously, the problem I have with it, is the lack of a universal convention.

...

I hope they don't do that to Red and Green traffic lights...
Click to expand...

Funny, it's already happening. I've noticed around here (Virginia) that they are phasing in a new traffic signal - the blinking yellow arrow. It means that if you are in the left turn lane you are to yield the right of way to oncoming traffic (that's right, the exact same thing that a solid green light means if you are in the left turn lane). It's bad enough that we are dealing with some of the worst and most confused drivers in the country around here (lots of military coming from lots of different places with very different driving habits), now lets take my tax dollars to put up some obscure new signal to confuse them even more. And on top of that, they take a little more to fund the signs that they have to install next to each new signal to explain to all the idiots what it means.

But universal standards aren't always good - e.g. look at how all of the pro A/V manufacturers in the last few years have adopted the consumer HDMI format as a standard. Garbage. Frail little connector that half the time won't even fit behind a wall mounted display, often breaks while trying and can't be re-terminated, and can't (or shouldn't) technically be run more than 30 feet without going through an expensive balun.

Sorry for the tangent, carry on.
 

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