# Quick question about a curtis controller.



## theonetruerat (May 17, 2017)

Ok, I have a quick question about making a throttle for my Curtis controller. It's set up for a 0-5Kohm throttle controller. If I exceed 5Kohm will the controller simply view this as max throttle and be fine or will I rip a hole in the time space continuum to a universe where I have to buy a new controller and suddenly have a very big and square paper weight.?

Thanks,


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## piotrsko (Dec 9, 2007)

Max throttle voltage occurs when the pot wiper is close to the zero setting resistance, so: no it won't alter the STC. But you also won't get full pedal stop to reach minimum available power ,it will occur somewhere else, probably mid throttle. Kinda like the throttle on a ford 460 low geared 1ton pickup, really touchy.


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## theonetruerat (May 17, 2017)

piotrsko said:


> Max throttle voltage occurs when the pot wiper is close to the zero setting resistance, so: no it won't alter the STC. But you also won't get full pedal stop to reach minimum available power ,it will occur somewhere else, probably mid throttle. Kinda like the throttle on a ford 460 low geared 1ton pickup, really touchy.


Thanks, 

I guess I was a bit spare on what I'm doing. I'm using a rotary potentiometer to build my own throttle. Most of these require about 320-340 degrees to go through their full range. I figured If I could use a 10K potentiometer I would have fewer degrees to deal with and would have an easier time with the design and construction. I will limit rotation to give me 0-5K I just wanted to be sure that I'd be good if it was more like 0-5.47K 

Thanks again.


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## cricketo (Oct 4, 2018)

The controller acts as a voltage source to which resistance is applied. Extra resistance can't hurt it. Also regarding your mechanical problem you can use another trick - if you use a 20k pot and parallel the outer legs, you will get a 5k-0 from the middle to the limit on either side.


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## theonetruerat (May 17, 2017)

cricketo said:


> The controller acts as a voltage source to which resistance is applied. Extra resistance can't hurt it. Also regarding your mechanical problem you can use another trick - if you use a 20k pot and parallel the outer legs, you will get a 5k-0 from the middle to the limit on either side.


Thanks for pointing that out. It's funny, I stack regular old resistors in parallel or series all the time to get what I want but I never even thought of sticking two potentiometers in parallel. Guess that shows how long it's been since I took circuits.


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## cricketo (Oct 4, 2018)

theonetruerat said:


> Thanks for pointing that out. It's funny, I stack regular old resistors in parallel or series all the time to get what I want but I never even thought of sticking two potentiometers in parallel. Guess that shows how long it's been since I took circuits.


Hehe  Here is a visual aid btw : https://tinyurl.com/yhdp5krv Use the "Resistance" drag bar on the right to see the effects


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