If it helps, think of a potentiometer as a dimmer switch. The ground is all the way off, terminal 2 is the switch itself, and terminal 3 is the switch turned all the way up. A potentiometer is almost always used to throttle an input signal so that it can be adjusted. Sometimes, you can use a pot to overclock a device with a stronger signal.

100K is the most common kind of potentiometer on the market, since it has a solid range for audio equipment. These numbers are always printed directly on to a pot. Usually, they’re right next to the shaft on the opposite side of the terminals.

If you’re working on a breadboard, set the pot on the upper-most set of rows with the terminals facing you.

To ensure you can strip the wire cleanly, set your wire stripper to match the gauge of the wire. [5] X Expert Source Ricardo MitchellElectrician & Construction Professional, CN Coterie Expert Interview. 6 May 2020. You’ll need to solder your wires, so get your soldering iron and flux and set them out on your work surface. Acid-core soldering wire is used for plumbing. It won’t work with your electronics. If you’re wiring a specific kind of electronic device that uses specialized wires, go ahead and use those if the soldering wires don’t work.

You can use terminal 3 on the right if you want, but this means that you’ll need to turn the knob clockwise to turn the signal down.

The middle terminal is the potentiometer’s input. This means that the signal goes out of the electronic, into terminal 2, then back out again of terminal 3. Consequently, terminal 2 has to connect to the port that sends the original signal out of the device. On a guitar, this would mean wiring terminal 2 to the output jack. On an integrated audio amplifier, this would mean wiring terminal 2 to the speaker output terminal.

Terminal 3 is where signal comes out of your pot, which means it has to be wired to the location that you want to send the signal. On a guitar, this would mean wiring terminal 3 to the input jack. On an audio amplifier, terminal 3 would connect to the input channels.

If the voltmeter registers a signal from your pot but the device doesn’t work when you turn your electronic on, then there’s an issue with the connections you soldered.

You can now use your pot to modify the amount of resistance that your signal receives.

Search online or take you pot to an electronics store to see what options are available for your make and model.