throttle lever potentiometer problem

hi ,can anyone help.I've spent the last six months building a replica 737/800 TQ hand crafting levers,trim wheels.throttle levers etc and am really happy whit the results.then it all went pear shaped.When I wired it up to a leo bodnar bu 0836x card one of the pots I salvaged from an old game boy joy pad started smoking, so I immediately disconnected it.now I have to dissasemble the whole dam thing completely to replace al the pots.I'm sure I wired them correctly(center lug(wiper)to 5 volt left and right lugs to button and gnd.Question, what have I done wrong .The pots are 10 k but I don't know the rating.Otherwise their perfect for the job with 60 degrees of turn perfect for the throttle instead of the usual 300 degrees of turn you get from regular pots which are of no use, or what? which pots SHOULD I be using. I'm so lost and frustrated,HELLLLLLLP

If you ran 5 volts DC through the pot, I don't think it would have mattered which pin was connected, so far a smoking it. Five volts shouldn't smoke the pot. Is it possible it was already shorted?

Hello

I don't know how your button is wired, but I believe the Pot should be wired like this:
Attachment 5457
The viper should give you a voltage between 0 and 5V.
Seems you have connected 5V to the viper and then the smoke
is a correct observation when the pot/viper is turned towards the GND ;)

Per Erik is correct the 5 volt and gnd connections go to the left and right lugs and the centre connection(which should be the wiper) will be connected to the terminal marked X( or Y or Z depending upon which set of terminals you are using) on the BU0836X card. If you saw smoke you wil need to change the pots. You can test them with a multimeter before stripping but I would recommend you change them now for piece of mind
regards
geoff

thanks guys for you help,problem solved.I've tested a new pot(well an undamaged one) on a quick make shift throttle lever and it works like a dream.So on we go with the project and at the current rate I should have the cockpit completed sometime between 2020 and 2030.cheers!

Hi johncor, know the feeling lol.. smoked 2 pots ( not the herbal kind ) before I realized what I was doing wrong.
Most frustrating :( .. and or course they had to be the throttle ones so I a complete break down was in order ( both the TQ and me ). Good luck with the build as I have just stated mine and I think we have the same completion date lol

Mark