A trimpot or trimmer potentiometer is a small potentiometer which is used for adjustment, tuning and calibration in circuits. When they are used as a variable resistance (wired as a rheostat) they are called preset resistors. Trimpots or presets are normally mounted on printed circuit boards and adjusted by using a screwdriver. The material they use as a resistive track is varying, but the most common is either carbon composition or cermet. Trimpots are designed for occasional adjustment and can often achieve a high resolution when using multi-turn setting screws. When trimmer potentiometers are used as a replacement for normal potentiometers, care should be taken as their designed lifespan is often only 200 cycles.
