Well, this question may be silly, but I've been searching for half an hour about this potentiometer symbol, I can't find a reference anywhere. What does the circle stand for, GND? VCC? Geez...

 

It is common in symbols used by simulators to indicate a positive direction for current. In a real component there is no significance.

 

The anticlockwise end (or was it the clockwise end?) - depends on which side you were looking at it from.

 

I love you guys too.

 

What does the circle stand for, GND? VCC?

Eagle uses an arrow on pots to indicate CW rotation. Maybe your simulator uses a dot instead.

 

I've also seen it marked CW at one end and CCW at the other - no ambiguity there!

 

Well, this question may be silly, but I've been searching for half an hour about this potentiometer symbol, I can't find a reference anywhere. What does the circle stand for, GND? VCC? Geez...

View attachment 293107

It generally used to indicate which end of the resistor the wiper moves to when it is turned clockwise (as seen from the viewpoint of someone looking down on the screw/dial as it is turned). You will sometimes see "CW" instead of the circle.

Sometimes it doesn't matter (e.g., a hobbyist/experimeter will simply turn the pot in the direction that causes the desired behavior).

Sometimes it's important for user convenience (e.g., a user generally expects the volume to increase when the knob is turned clockwise).

Sometimes it's critical (e.g., the pot is part of a feedback circuit, such as position indication).

 

The direction of rotation is also important if the pot is other than linear taper.

 

Well, this question may be silly, but I've been searching for half an hour about this potentiometer symbol, I can't find a reference anywhere. What does the circle stand for, GND? VCC? Geez...

View attachment 293107

The o is the final Anti Clockwise position of the pot.

 

The o is the final Anti Clockwise position of the pot.

I've generally seen them as being at the most clockwise position, but that's possibly a reflection of the pots I happened to use. The CCW makes some intuitive sense in thinking of that position as being zero and interpreting the circle as a zero. I've been looking around the web and haven't been able to find any references for either case. There mere fact that both conventions are used make it a largely useless convention. I definitely prefer the CW (or CCW annotation).

 

I've generally seen them as being at the most clockwise position, but that's possibly a reflection of the pots I happened to use. The CCW makes some intuitive sense in thinking of that position as being zero and interpreting the circle as a zero. I've been looking around the web and haven't been able to find any references for either case. There mere fact that both conventions are used make it a largely useless convention. I definitely prefer the CW (or CCW annotation).

By age old practice, the "increase" has always been clockwise - whether Gain or Attenuation.

 

The dot has nothing to do with the voltage since that depends on circuit application.
The dot represents pin-1, as with ICs, connectors, etc, i.e. fully counter clock-wise (CCW) position.

 

What I need is to just increase and decrease resistance, so it doesn't matter if CW or CCW?

 

Doesn't matter with a linear pot, just that by convention, it is customarily CW to 'Increase'.