Potentiometer ratings

[Macemachine]

I just got my breadboard to test wire up more complex systems and am looking to get a few potentiometers to mix colors on 3 and 4 color LEDs (rgb, rgba, etc) to get resistance measurements.

I have been reading my wiring books and they just say "get the one that's rated for your system". Ya well my choices had ohm maximums way higher than my system (100 ohms, 10k ohms) and power of 0.5w

I could not find a thread on this, or locate it in thread index. Did find a YouTube vid demonstrating it though.

My question is about the Ohms and power ratings.

Do I just get the lowest ohm rating so my dialing is more sensitive? And lastly, how does the watt rating play into this when the leds can be between 1W and 10W?

Thank you for your time.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

You will only be using between 0 - 6 ohms most of the time so you want to get one as close to 10 ohms as you can. I have used ones for 100 ohms before but only a small section of it is useful.

[Sunrider]

Go by led wattage for power and use a led resistor calculator for approx resistance.

[Macemachine]

Go by led wattage for power and use a led resistor calculator for approx resistance.

Yes, but I am not looking for approx. I am connecting each diode in the LED up to a pot. That way I can variably dial in a resistance, which I can then measure for the exact resistance for each color to get the best color mixing. For example - trying to get a good purple or orange/yellow type color from a RGB LED.

From Skytracker's reply I am looking for a 10 ohm pot.

Power would be 6V (my battery) multiplied by the LED diode current 350ma to get about 2W of power - can that power rating be in a range also (will 25W be to much) or do I need it at 2w specifically?

I hope that clarifies the situation.

[Sunrider]

Ok with the 6v source 5 watt 10 ohm pots should work. Watch the current so you don't go over spec.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Sunrider is correct. I forgot to tell you to not to forget to get the correct wattage, if you get too low of a wattage your pot won't last for long. Oversized wattage is ok, just don't undersize it.

[Macemachine]

Thanks everyone, appreciate it.