Switch Harness question?
 

I have a micro switch harness with no aux. charge jack. It just has two wires, a switch in the middle ( on the neg wire), with a male connector on one end and and a female connector on the other. The positive wire does not route through the swich, it simply goes from one connector to the other. My question is can I add a charge jack by simply splicing it into the wire on the battery side of the switch? If the switch is off, I can charge the battery without any current going to the reciver as that part of the circut would be open. Is this correct? I dont want to "jack up" my reciever. Thanks for any help.

Darren

RE: Switch Harness question?
 

Darren:

Most of the small slide switches are DPDT, so you could add a charging wire and isolate it to prevent the charging voltage going into the rx and servos.

On my small planes I usually don't bother with a switch at all. Plug the battery in, attach the wing, and fly. Land, pull the wing and unplug the battery.

And on the larger planes I have the switches modified to have the charge jack hot all the time - that way I can plug a voltmeter in, turn the radio on, and wiggle the tx sticks. Lets me see the real voltage under load, not with some generic supposed-to-be-close load. But I do run the risk of carelessness putting charger voltage in the rx.

Bill.

RE: Switch Harness question?
 

William, My problem with this aplication is the rx and battery are going to be completly inaccessable once the plane is done. I can get to them only by cutting open the wing covering (Jeremy's Half Wit). I could add some kind of hatch I suppose but thought the switch charge jack would be better.

RE: Switch Harness question?
 

Darren:

If your planes last as long as mine you will eventually cut the plane open to change the battery pack. I have planes well over ten years old, the battery packs don't last that long. One, about 20 years old, is even on its third engine. Servos have all been replaced, even the original AM rx has been replaced with an FM unit. And others I have are on their second engines.

But if you are building this one without access, you really don't have any chioce. Either get a switch harness with a charging port, or add one to the switch harness you have.

Bill.

RE: Switch Harness question?
 

Bill ,please pardon my electronic ignorance , but what I asking is will the circut as I've described it isolate the RX when charging as long as the switch is off?

Darren

RE: Switch Harness question?
 

Sorry, Darren, I misunderstood. But yes, if you splice a charging jack and wire into the existing lead from the battery to the switch, the charging voltage will not reach the rx when the switch is off. When you break a circuit at any point there is no curent flow.

Bill.

RE: Switch Harness question?
 

Bill , thanks I appreciate the help, I'm not always the best communicator I knew it would take a couple of rounds of give and take to get it resolved. I probably should of posted a diagram. And buy the way my planes don't last any where near as long as yours but as I get older and smarter all my planes longevity is increasing. Thanks again.

Darren

RE: Switch Harness question?
 

Darren:

Just be sure the switch is off when you plug the charger in. And your communication was perfetly clear. I read what I thought you meant, and ignored what you said.

And you are more than welcome.

Bill.