lrglnman

Has anyone used the light weight rocker style auto switch instead of using the expensive rc ones? a little soldering can save several dollars if its practical to use.I got one yesterday that has a blue led in it to show when it is on. sorta cool to see if it is going to work out.

batdog

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the heads up. I am always looking at diffrent ways to improvise to save money or just make it better. What application are you using the switch on ? batdog

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I make my switch harnesses now. I ran into a problem where I couldnt charge a plane with two batteries in it, at the same time. This was because the ground side is not switched in the regular rc switch harnesses. I wire mine to switch both sides to isolate the grounds on both batteries when off. I get the parts from digikey. The led switch sounds handy though.
Edwin

lrglnman

Well, I plan on using one for the ignition and maybe one for the rest of the electronics. not sure yet. the switch im talking about i can get from autozone for 3$ and its a 20 amp switch. should be more that plenty to handle the load. but im gonna try to solder it first and use heat shrink on it as well. Its just a simple on off switch.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Can it switch both sides? I might want to try that one too. I soldered mine using 18ga wire. I like the led idea. I've been sorta working on an idea that

Oops hit return too soon. To finish my comment, I've been working on an means of having an led monitor voltage on the load side so you could see if there were any intermittant contacts while the engine was running.
Edwin

lrglnman

Well, I guess if you want it to you can make it do both sides. I want to try this on a seagull decathalon 120 size with a g20 gas. In theory it should work just the same as say a mpi switch or a futaba switch. only heavy duty. I may have to think on how im gonna charge the batery in the plane cause i want to use lipo's or a123 batteries. not sure how im gonna do it.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I still have a bunch of them in my box. I used them some years ago and ran into a small problem. They didn't hold up well to the vibration so I quit using them. The money I have invested in one of my planes isn't worth the couple dollars I saved on switches. I pay about $20.00 a pop for the heavy duty JR switches with the charge port.
I never lost a plane due to the rocker switches but after having two of them fail in a gasser {Ignition} I went back to the JRs. It's just one of those choice things. They are cool looking with the different colored lights though.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I got my switch from digikey. Each side and connection has multiple contacts. For charging, I wired it like the standard switch harness. Charge connector is a regular charge receptical. The battery and power board side are Deans connectors. I use this one in a G-62 powered SunDancer with a split power bus. Not a lot of time on it yet so I cant speak to reliability. I really like that led, need to figure out a way to use an led to monitor each contact on the load side of the switch. This would let you know if a contact failed.
I test my wire harnesses using an old orbital vibrating sander. Plug in a led voltage monitor and just place the sander foam pad on the fuse near the switch with it turned on. If the led vibrates and bounces around, thats a test fail. Pretty hard test to pass for a marginal switch.
Edwin