Newbie Volume Question

[djustham]

Hi,
I have a Beast Sapp machine and of course its too loud. I bought a 10K ohms, .05 watt volume control from Radio Shack. I have two speakers (four wires) and this volume control has three wire holes on the top and three on the bottom. Bottom line is that I dont have a clue as to how it is supposed to be wired up. In addition, is it ok to cut the speaker wires just before the circuit board plug and install the control at that location? Does it need to be grounded?

Thanks for the help
Don

[millermaster1]

Hey Don,

Welcome to the group!
This photo by new in town should help!

You will need to do some wire splicing and some soldiering to make it work just right.

You can also read more here: L-Pad Question

I did it and if I can...

[djustham]

Okay so is the amp contained within the circuit board? So.. can I wire the volume control right near the circuit board?

[millermaster1]

You are correct, the amp and the circuit board are one in the same.

I wired mine anywhere I had room to work. Sometimes near the speaker, sometimes near the "amp." I have 3 L-pads wired like this and don't have any problems!

[new in town]

Don,

That Radio Shack part will not work using the schematic I have posted or as a in line control.

10K ohms is way to high a rating and .05 watts capacity would go "POOF! A pic of it is below.



I'm not Pushing Parts Express's L-Pads here.

They are just the one's I found, use and have had Total Success with.

Parts Express:L-Pad 15W Stereo 1" Shaft 8 Ohm

They are rated at 8 ohm and 15 watt capacity. Overkill yes but they will Never Burn Out.

Another option over a Volume Control would be to use an in line resistor.

I have used 68 ohm resistors (2 watt) in the past with good success. Their color code is Blue, Gray, Black and Gold or Silver on the last band of color.

Gold is a 5% tolerance and silver is a 10%.

Resistor color code calculator - 3, 4 and 5 band resistors

Radio shack did not carry them so I went E-Bay hunting.

68 Ohm 2 Watt Carbon Composite Resistor NonInductive 2W - eBay (item 250187993994 end time Mar-08-09 17:31:04 PDT)

ALLEN BRADLEY 68 ohm 2 watt 5% Carbon Comp Resistor(1) - eBay (item 400003772983 end time Mar-21-09 21:19:04 PDT)

I have two here. If you would like to try them out PM me your adress and I'll send them off to you.

The only downside to using these is that they set the Volume at one level and it can not be adjusted but it is a comfortable level.

They are Soldered in line with one of the two wires going to each speaker. I have some heat shrink also I can send to finish up the job once they are Soldered in.

[FTKServices]

I use inline resistors in the form of adjustable pots on all of my pachislo machines & my Star Wars Pachinko. You can get them in the Pachitalk Auction site.
Pachitalk Auction Volume Controls