"Victory" wrote in message
...
Ok, I hope someone can help me out with this. I went out and bought a
1k variable resistor. I took a picture of the setup and I would love
it if someone could take photoshop or paint and connect the dots for
me and therefore I will know where to put the wires. The LED doesn't
have any specs and the batteries are TWO 3V button batteries in
series. I have tried connecting it myself and all I can get is the
light "on and off", but it doesn't dim or get brighter.
I have also bought a bunch of trim pots (really really small) - these
radio shack trim pots aren't a problem - I have tested and hooked them
up to the LED. Turning the turning the dial to dims and brightened
the LED.
BUT when I try the 1k resistor, because it has the EXTRA hooks up (5
instead of 3 that are in the trim pots), I am not sure how to make it
work.
Here is the picture :

http://davidd.250free.com/resistor.gif

Thanks again. I know that I am probably asking rudimentary questions,
but I am learning along the way. Thanks for the patience.

OK. Assuming that the wire to the left of your battery pack is "-" and the
one to the right is "+", then it connects pretty much as you have it lying
there. The short leg of the LED goes straight to battery "-". The battery
"+" wire goes to the right-hand tag of the three that are together on the
pot, as we are looking at it on the picture. The centre and left tags should
be joined together. You then need a fixed resistor of say 22 ohms connected
between the joined-together pot tags, and the long lead on the LED. This
resistor is important, as it will limit the maximum current that the LED can
draw with the pot turned right up. Without it, the LED will burn out.

Can I just ask that you post replies to the bottom of any text that you are
replying to, rather than the top, as you would when replying to a personal
e-mail. It makes the thread a lot easier to follow, and whilst there are a
few that vociferously defend newsgroup top-posting, the accepted convention
is to bottom post, with top snipping if needed to aid clarity.

Thanks.

Arfa