Volume control potentiometer issues Creative Labs iTrigue 3400 2.1 PC speakers s

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

I have a Creative Labs iTrigue 3400 2.1 PC Speakers system that has worked great for years.
However, last week it started giving me trouble. The main volume basically just cuts out. I found
that if I move the main volume control knob sometimes I can leave it at a new place and the volume
is OK for a while. But then it will cut out again and I have to mess with the knob again to
get it to work. But it's very touchy and not easy to find a good spot.

I found that if I place the whole volume control knob on it's side, it seems to be a lot more
reliable and stays working for much longer periods of time.

YouTube has a bunch of videos about how you can 'clean' the potentiometer with a contact
cleaner or something, but my potentiometer seems to be 'closed' so I don't see how I could
do that with this one.

Creative Labs unfortunately does not sell volume control replacements, which is annoying.

What I'd really like to do is just replace the potentiometer. I went on Digikey, but was
quite overwhelmed with all the different ones and wasn't sure what the best/eaisest way to
figure out which one I need.

Here's some photos I took if it's helpful:

1024×810 158 KB

(The whole volume control circuit board)

1024×978 222 KB

(Just the potentiometer...note the 'B50K')

1024×1105 192 KB

(A little different angle)

1024×1043 238 KB

(Another little different angle)

I searched for B50K on Digikey and it came back with 35 potentiometers, most of them not even
available. Judging from the photos from the first few that are available, they don't look
like mine very much.

Sooo, I was just wondering if anyone had any other ideas to fix/replace my potentiometer.

Thanks,
Jamie

2

I see several opening in the pot where you can spray in cleaner. Why do you think you can't do that?

Paul

3

There are many other suppliers than Digikey. Try RS Components potentiometers . You have to do the hard work, search for what you are looking for, compare the dimensions and get one that fits. It probably does not have to be a perfect fit mechanically, as long as you can get it to fit and wire it up.

4

Those openings are very tiny, I just figure that even if some gets in, it won't actually reach the area(s) that it needs to clean.

OK, thanks for the link!

Thank you both for the replies. I'll buy some cleaner and give it a shot, and I'll check that site out too!

jamie

5

domiflichi:
Those openings are very tiny, I just figure that even if some gets in, it won't actually reach the area(s) that it needs to clean.

If you use a spray cleaner, it will get plenty inside the potentiometer, then you turn the control back and forth several times to help clean the contact area. A few decades ago when I was repairing electronics the common electronic cleaner was basically a can of freon, obviously not a choice these days. Just make sure whatever you use is suitable for electronics.

While you have the board out, check the solder connections on the potentiometer, fairly common for those to develop cracks.