{"id":25398,"date":"2025-06-21T08:48:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T15:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/?p=25398"},"modified":"2025-11-20T07:03:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:03:42","slug":"how-do-i-use-the-vernier-variable-load-ves-vl-and-what-is-the-switch-inside-it-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/25398","title":{"rendered":"How do I use the Vernier Variable Load (VES-VL) and what is the switch inside it for?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>In May of 2025, the <a href=\"\/product\/vernier-variable-load\/\">Vernier Variable Load<\/a> (<nobr>VES-VL<\/nobr>) was updated to a new design. The new version has two rotary switches that allow the user to set the resistance to even resistance values from 2 to 200 \u03a9. The Variable Load supports up to 300 mA of current and comes with a replaceable 365 mA fuse. (A spare fuse is included inside the case.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/product_ves-vl_hero_2025-02-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26506\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/product_ves-vl_hero_2025-02-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/product_ves-vl_hero_2025-02-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/product_ves-vl_hero_2025-02-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/product_ves-vl_hero_2025-02-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/product_ves-vl_hero_2025-02-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>This version of the Variable Load also has an internal switch with two settings\u2014<strong>GDX-NRG<\/strong> and <strong>OTHER<\/strong>. (The unit is shipped with the switch in the <strong>GDX-NRG<\/strong> position.)<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>When the switch is in the <strong>GDX-NRG<\/strong> position, the resistance of the Variable Load is actually 1-\u03a9 lower than the resistance specified by the dials on the box. This is done to account for the 1-\u03a9 resistor built into our energy sensors, <a href=\"\/product\/go-direct-energy-sensor\/\">Go Direct<sup>&reg;<\/sup> Energy Sensor<\/a> (<nobr>GDX-NRG<\/nobr>) and <a href=\"\/product\/vernier-energy-sensor\/\">Vernier Energy Sensor<\/a> (<nobr>VES-BTA<\/nobr>).<\/li>\n<li>When the switch is in the <strong>OTHER<\/strong> position, the resistance of the device matches the resistance specified by the dials on the box.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you want to use the Variable Load for general experiments or projects, you should set the switch to the <strong>OTHER<\/strong> setting; however, with only a 1-\u03a9 difference, it rarely will matter at all.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Articles<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"\/til\/26497\/\">Where can I get replacement fuses for the Vernier Variable Load?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In May of 2025, the was updated to a new design. The new version has two rotary switches that allow the user to set the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9585,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5502],"class_list":["post-25398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-ves-vl"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9585"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}