What company makes this potentiometer marked "TC"? 1

[g90278]

Does anyone know what company made the potentiometer in the attached picture? The marking on it is "TC".

Here's the backstory: We have been buying an OEM circuit board from a Chinese company for nearly 10 years and have approved the "TC" potentiometer they originally put on it (before I got hired). I did try to call it out completely on the BOM, but the company would never tell me the actual manufacturer, so I've been calling it out over the years as "TC" potentiometer. The latest batch of circuit boards does not say "TC" on the part and the quality of the part is not as good, but they claim it is "TC". I'd like to get to the bottom of this and it would help if I called the potentiometer manufacturer.

Does anyone know who the original vendor might be? I've looked on Alibaba for potentiometer manufacturers with those initials, and ones that end in "Technology Co.," but nothing has panned out. Nothing good from google with search terms like TC potentiometer, either.

 

[jraef]

If you don't know the sublet difference, what you might be calling a "potentiometer" is actually a rheostat. The only difference is that a rheostat does not have a connection to both ends of the resistor, just the wiper and one end, whereas a potentiometer acts as a voltage divider with the wiper spitting the connections to each end of the resistor. Any potentiometer can be used as a rheostat, in fact most are, but not the other way around.

I only mention this because a company called "Italohm" makes a toroidal rheostat that uses the model designation "TC".

http://www.italohm.com/lang_en/products/TC_OFEL.php

You were likely only using the term "potentiometer" in your Googling, I substituted "rheostat" for you and got it at the top of the hit parade.

"Will work for (the memory of) salami"

 

[jraef]

Damned auto-correct... "sublet" should have been "subtle" ...

"Will work for (the memory of) salami"

 

[g90278]

Thanks for taking the time to give the advice. I appreciate that.

I did use rheostat in addition to potentiometer, just didn't mention it. Sorry for the confusion.

I was going on the assumption that they make a lot more pots based on finding that a lot of Chinese companies making the identical looking rheostat make a lot more pots in the same style. Thought there might be a bigger chance of finding someone using a pot with this "TC" marking rather than a rheostat.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Have you opened up an old and a new one to compare?

As with one of the other threads, I think a lot of time is being spent on trying to track down one thing when the complete picture is being missed... forest for the trees issue.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[g90278]

Yes, I've looked. There are a bunch of little things different, but one big thing is that the brushes that swipe the resistance track are attached in opposite directions. See the attached photo of the inside plastic part that actuate the switch. In the gap in each of the plastic parts you can see the brushes.

 

[g90278]

By the way, the little plastic triangle at the top of the last photo is what is causing the most rejects. On about 5% of the parts, if the knob is pressed to the side in one specific direction, the triangle rubs against the internal metal switch part (it is not supposed to do this). The rubbing causes the user to feel a "bump" during the turning motion just about 180 degrees from the start of turn. I haven't measured if the rubbing is caused by the whole plastic part being attached off-centered or tilted, or if the switch parts are sticking out too much, and so on.