Case Study: Italian LED Driver Manufacturer Improves Production Yield with BONENS 3266 Thermal-Stable Trimmers

Client Profile: A Northern Italian LED lighting driver manufacturer producing compact constant-current drivers for architectural, commercial, and industrial lighting applications across the European Union.

Challenge

The client's compact LED driver design required a multi-turn trimmer potentiometer for output current calibration in a thermally constrained PCB environment. Operating temperatures inside the sealed driver enclosure reached 85°C during full-load operation. The previously used trimmer — a budget carbon-based model — exhibited resistance drift at elevated temperatures, causing output current variation that triggered quality control rejections at final test. The production line was experiencing a 3.2% rejection rate attributed to trimmer drift during burn-in testing.

BONENS Solution

Sichuan Qixing recommended the BONENS 3266 series multi-turn glass-glaze cermet trimmer potentiometer for its superior thermal stability and standardized square package compatible with the client's existing PCB footprint. The 3266's glass-glaze element maintains stable resistance values at elevated operating temperatures, while the multi-turn configuration provides the fine adjustment resolution needed for precise LED current setting. Engineering samples were qualified through the client's extended burn-in protocol (72 hours at 85°C) with zero drift failures.

Results

While the BONENS 3266 carried a modest 8% unit price premium over the previous carbon trimmer, the dramatic improvement in production yield — reducing rejection rate from 3.2% to 0.4% — resulted in net annual savings of approximately €18,500 after accounting for the component cost increase. The client has since standardized on BONENS 3266 across all LED driver product lines.