Motorcycle intercom. Faulty POT
Hi Everyone,
I just bought a motorcycle intercom off ebay (starcom1 Digital - http://www.starcom1.com/therange.htm). I decided to modify the remote (volume control).
The volume control is just a pot on a cable with a 3.5mm jack on the other end that plugs into the intercom unit. The white wire is connected to one side of the pot. The bare wire is connected to the common. The red wire is connected to a 1k resistor which is then also connected to the common (so only 2 terminals of the pot are being used).
The unit is digital - the sound does not actually travel trough the pot. When you vary its resistance, the electronics translates this and alters the vol accordingly (I think).
The mod I made was just to make the cable shorter. It was working fine for days. When I turned the pot the sound would turn up and down very smoothly. Now for some reason the sound is very jumpy. It can go up or down when you turn the vol up.
I though it must be my soldering - so I tried to fix that. It's the same. After many hrs I decided to put the blame on the pot itself. I had a tiny trimming pot that was also 10k - it seems to be ok with that.
I found the original pot on the web
http://www.omeg.co.uk/e16typ1.htm
I believe it's the PC16ECO
I have just bought the following as a replacement
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/s...-0439&x=21&y=9
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/s...5210&x=23&y=22
My question is, is the pot I have bought a better pot than the original? How much is the original? Where can I get one? (I don’t really want to buy one from starcom, it cost 25pounds, Im sure you are just paying for the cable/housing etc which I put in the bin anyway).
Or perhaps the problem is not with the pot? What is the red wire and 1k resister for? If I leave it off it still seems to work?
Thanks.
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