Potentiometer wattage

[Jarvini]

Is a 2 watt potentiometer really necessary? most of the old fender schematics have 1/2 watt ratings for nearly all resistors and a potentiometer is just a variable voltage divider so why such a high wattage? most suppliers seem to mainly stock 1/2 watt potentiometers does that mean that 1/2 watt is ok to use?

[J M Fahey]

Potentiometers in general are not expected to dissipate significant power, so "whatever's usual" is what´s normally available.
Maybe 1/2W for large 25mm pots and 1/4W for smaller 16 mm ones and they are not expectd to reach even that, by a large margin.

[Chuck H]

Who's commanding 2W pots? And who's selling them? Most of the run of the mill pots I know of are 1/2 watt for linear taper and 1/4 watt for audio.

[SoulFetish]

Who's commanding 2W pots? And who's selling them? Most of the run of the mill pots I know of are 1/2 watt for linear taper and 1/4 watt for audio.

Well if you must know, I’m commanding them. I’ve been building an army of 2W Potentiometers to lead them in a war against reason and affordability.

[Enzo]

Snort, my Rheostat Warriors will totally resist your lowly pots.

Viva la resistance.
Viva El Pad.

[Jarvini]

Can't remember where I read it now unfortunately and having purchased the allen bradley 2w pots after much searching I now feel rather foolish looks like the hard way is how I'm going to learn.
Soul fetish if you need any new recruits let me know I've got a small platoon ready for action

[Jarvini]

Bearing In mind that " a man who never makes any mistakes never makes anything"

[eschertron]

In one of my parts bins there are some old AB pots, salvaged from an old something-or-other. I haven't used them simply because they have long 2" shafts. I'm sure if I had them in a build, they'd still be going strong after the cockroaches have risen to be the dominant species on the planet.

There's a school of thought among engineers that "if it's worth designing, it's worth over-designing". Nothing wrong with that...as long as money is no object. I selected PEC pots for my first build; haven't done so since

[SoulFetish]

Snort, my Rheostat Warriors will totally resist your lowly pots.

Viva la resistance.
Viva El Pad.

You and those relics are tough, I’ll give you that. You got sand, Enzo (and it’s adorable). But PWM is giving you about all you can handle at this point. You think you can win a war on two fronts?
Join me...

[Enzo]

Well... sometimes I get wired and all wound up. I'll try to regain my composition. But I am flame proof on this.

[Chuck H]

Can't remember where I read it now unfortunately and having purchased the allen bradley 2w pots after much searching I now feel rather foolish looks like the hard way is how I'm going to learn.
Soul fetish if you need any new recruits let me know I've got a small platoon ready for action

Nothing wrong with idealizing. I'm sure they're great pots. So, you're pots are better than mine, and most. That's worth something. It's all in where YOU want to draw the line on the quality issue. I figure the real difference will be in longevity and reliability. Probably the quality of the tapers too. It all matters or everyone would be buying the cheapest possible part for every application.