saramos

I posted this question in the q&a forum, but this may be a better place to ask.

I once came across a fellow who had a plane with a switch that was completely hidden. It was mounted under the skin and was switched on and off with a magnet. He would pass the magnet over the surface and the switch turned on, then pass the magnet again and it would turn off. I believe it may have been custom made. Has anyone come across or made such a switch?

Scott

pilotpete2

I'm retired from the computer industry, we used a lot of those magnetic reed switches back in the 70's.
I think that vibration from an IC engine would make them very unreliable, but the idea sound cool, but not something I would try.
Pete

RaceCity

Can't think of who marketed those magnetic switches, but they WERE in fact available for r/c a number of years ago. I don't recall seeing anyone who used one.

It was (IMO) a gimmick product that never went anywhere. Not necessarily unreliable, but when the average Joe can't find a use for it, or won't pay the extra $$ for it....it's not going anywhere.

A good quality switch is worth it's weight in gold if you value your model. The means of activating it is now, and always has been via your thumbnail.

saramos

RaceCity,

My main interest in RC is scale. Any product that can eliminate the intrusion of non-scale necessities is of interest to me. If there's a way to make a reliable switch that can be completely hidden, I'd be interested.

I know that the businesses in this hobby are there to make a profit, and if they can't make a profit on an item, they should drop it.
I understand that a magnetic switch is probably not a viable money making product in the market place, but I'm not in this hobby to make someone money. If it's available on the market I would consider buying one. If not, l'd still be interested in the knowledge to be able to make it for myself.

As for the average Joe, I'd say that the average Joe could care less about RC in general, let alone a magnetic switch for some scale freak.

Pete,

In my internet searches, I came across reed switches. One of my first thoughts was the potential problem with vibration. While the problem (if it's there) of vibration would have to be overcome, a reed may still be the answer. The question is, could a solution such as a stable debounced state long enough to be distinguished from momentary contact by vibration, perhaps using a timer, be made to make it relaible? And could a home brewed solution be made small and lightweight enough? I think RaceCity is right that it was a product marketed but no longer available. If so, it makes me think even more so that there's likely to be a way to make it workable.

Scott

gzkpez

Scott,

Suppliers of Security Alarms have variuos types of magnetic switchs, most of then simple if magnet present show either on or off. I have seen a switch like you described that a passing magnet switches the switch for a sliding operation once in an installation, it was pretty small. I use to work with security alarm monitoring companies a long time ago. Try the Google for security alarm switches, maybe there is one for your liking; to get the better ones you need to go to specialist store probably, the one I saw were all our parent company brand models, but they were bought from someplace, we only made PC boards and bent metal.

Putting a switch in some scale planes is sometimes difficult. If you use a piece of the airplane such as an antenna to push a wire to the switch you could pick up some bad vibration. There is a rc model company that makes an electronic switch that are on unless the switch tells it to be off for a second or two There is some drain always on the battery.

For my one scale plane I was lucky in that I could put it behind a small hatch panel that was on the original plane. My panel uses hinges and magnets to keep close. I hope to start to build more scale planes as time goes on and see the desire for a nice hidden radio switch installation.

Good luck, but remember bad switchs co cause alot of crashes so be carefull or use two.

saramos

Gzkpez,

Thanks for the suggestions. When I did a search on magnetic switch, most of the results were for proximity switches for doors/windows.
I'll try a search on security alarm switches.

Scott