Weird Wares: What Is a Power Resistor and What Does It Do?

Worldwide sale of consumer electronics reached almost $300 billion in 2018.

And in every single piece of consumer electronics, you’re likely to find a resistor.

Standard resistors aren’t really that weird. In fact, they’re everywhere. Power resistors on the other hand are on a whole new level.

Read on as we enter the weird world of the power resistor.

What Is a Power Resistor?

First, we need to take a look at what a resistor is.

In an electronic circuit, current passes through highly conductive materials, which allow electricity to flow easily. Resistors are made from materials with low conductivity. This means that it is much harder for current to flow through a resistor.

Why would you want this? Well, too much current can be bad for some components. An LED light, for example, could overheat without a resistor to reduce the current.

So what about power resistors? Well, they’re the daddy of all resistors. They’re designed to dissipate huge amounts of power by converting it to heat. If you’ve got a lot of power that needs removing from your circuit then you need power resistors.

What Are Power Resistors Used For?

So why would you need to use a power resistor?

What circumstances would require removing a huge amount of power, or converting power into heat? We take a look at some of the most common uses.

Resistance Heaters

A power resistor dissipates the power by converting it to heat.

This property can be used for providing warmth. Resistance heaters are an application that makes use of the heat output of power resistors rather than their resistance properties.

Power resistors are so awesome they can even keep you warm.

Engine Braking

For large vehicles, such as trains and trams, slowing them down with disc brakes like what’s used on cars isn’t as efficient because the brakes would quickly wear down.

One option is to slow the vehicle with resistance braking. The kinetic energy of the vehicle is converted back into electrical energy, which is then dissipated using power resistors.

Power resistors are so awesome they can literally stop a train.

Bleeder Resistors

Power supplies often contain capacitors that can hold a large charge.

If you need to make repairs to these power supplies, it’s not safe to do so until that power has been discharged. A bleeder resistor can discharge a capacitor by converting the charge to heat, making the power supply safe to work on.

Power resistors are so awesome they can actually save lives.

Looking for More Weird Tech?

If you think that a power resistor is pretty weird we’ve got plenty more weird stuff to whet your appetite.

Check out our most popular weird stories or take a look at some of our seriously weird pictures. We have some cute pictures too if you get too weirded out. And don’t forget to keep up to date with all the latest weird news.

We wish well with you whatever weird stuff you want.

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