HISTORY:
Sustainability is the name of the game! Anything that can be reused or repurposed creates Ee savings and reduces the poisoning our environment when items are buried in the earth at the local tip needlessly.
Never heard of Ee? It is a concept that creates a measurement of ALL things (not just electronics) that humans have made and the energy used in obtaining the raw material, processing the materials right through to a finished product and even should include the shipping of the item to the distributors/retailers.
If you would like to know more about Ee values, please take a look HERE
So who may want just this motorised potentiometer module?
Servicing or restoration of the original equipment, if you can identify that this module suits your equipment! Another possibility is to create a custom audio project utilising this module for that "old school" remote volume control system.
While I am often very fastidious in my record keeping of where all the parts and modules I have originated, this module had no such luck and I did not record the SONY equipment model this was removed from - drat!
Below, in my description, I have provided all the identification numbers I can find on this module plus some other information that may prove useful.
SONY - Motorised Potentiometer Module
Although not indicated anywhere on this module, I strongly suspect this is ALPS product
COMPONENT: Motorised potentiometer
Looks to be (based on the PCB type used) from the 1990's
Part numbers observed with location:
PCB (top side):
SONY 1-643-528-15
PCB (solder side):
SONY K2V
Potentiometer body:
241-891-11
R2R3 20K 15A
330t-R1 20K LS
Motor body:
DG
613628
Dual potentiometer control, either manually operated by the user or motorised control (clutch inside the gearbox) via the remote control system
Potentiometer Taper: unknown
Supplied as in the photograph, designed for panel mounting using the potentiometer shaft ONLY - there are no mounting holes elsewhere. Note the jagged edges of the PCB at each end, I have NOT damaged the board and this is how SONY used to produce these old PCB's - a bit like a biscuit snapped in half which leaves jagged edges.
DIMENSIONS:
COMPLETE MODULE: 90mm Length x 45mm wide x 27mm height
Potentiometer body is substantial at 25.15mm across x 20mm height x 26.75mm length, heavy duty with a diecast front end and shaft. Shame that I cannot locate a manufacturer's name or logo on this pot although I have strong suspicions that this is ALPS product.
Motor body is all metal, 24.25mm diameter x 18.5mm length
The potentiometer body is completely sealed, no access internally (for cleaning)
The shaft of the potentiometer is the "D" style (metal)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Very nice condition!
CLEAN
NO damage to this module at all
TESTING:
Removed from SONY (unknown model) equipment that I would have decided was to become an "organ donor" - this module would have been working, I am not in the habit of carefully removing faulty components!
Observations:
The PCB is single sided, underneath the potentiometer are 16 pin connectors (DIL like an IC but there is no IC externally) so this is not just your ordinary 6 pin dual potentiometer connection.
The motor has just two connections to the PCB, looks just like a stock standard DC motor
Shaft movement (manual) is smooth, none of those little "bumps" you can feel when rotating a stepper motor, this is not a stepper.
Active devices on the PCB are 2x small signal transistors (1345 & 3399) and one 8 pin DIL IC LB1639 (Motor Driver). Although SONY had/has extensive in-house semiconductor manufacturing facilities, this IC looks to have originated as a SANYO product.
No fancy PWM control here, driving this module doesn't look complicated at all - see the application circuit diagram with this advertisement.
