CustomPC

Hi,

Is there a "standard" or concesus for locating the switch and which way it should go for on and off.

ie. Left Side or Right Side; Towards the Nose or Tail for ON?

meaden

I locate mine on the left side of the plane. The type of switch mount I use is internal so it goes in/out. In is on, out is off.

If I did an external mount I would make back on and forward off.

I think it's really personal perference.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

A lot of where it's mounted is personal preference. The only real conderation of where to put it would be so that it's not going to have exhaust residue flowing over it. Because of this switches are usually mounted on the opposite side of the fuselage from the muffler. As for my personal preference?? I use Dubro switch/charging jack mounts and I have the set to pull out for on and push in for off.

Ken

Tall Paul

On slopers, where the occasional pass thru the local shrubbery occurs, I've it worthwhile to have ON to the rear.
The bad feature for this orientation can be turning the radio OFF when launching.

DMcQuinn

My Feedback: (13)

Left side of fuse (away from exhaust). on is to the rear.

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

Usually it is mounted on the OPPOSITE side from the exhaust.

FWIW - I always orient the switch so that moving the switch toward the rear of the plane turns the receiver on. That way if you accidently brush the switch against something, the chances are very minimal that it will turn the receiver off.

whidbey1

My Feedback: (9)

HI
I have started to mount my switches like a light switch, up on, down off, make it simple.


Bill

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

If it's a switch - forward is on.

If it's a push/pull - in is on. Place a clothes pin on the switch when en-route to the field if there is a possibility it might get bumped on.

I always mount the switch on the left side of the fuselage as well.

somegeek

acarter

As everyone has said i mount mine opposite to the exhaust, If it's a switch-back is on if it's a push pull i make it- out is on that will it doesn't get bumped on while traveling

Austin

Mode One

Meaden, I have used the DuBro internal switch mounts for many, many years. I learned along time ago that if mounted so pushing in, turns the radio on, it was very easy to have the airplane accidentally get turned on when loading in the car or even in transporting! This happened to me once and precluded a beautiful day of flying from occuring. It was very easy to determine that if I reversed the process the accedent turn on could almost never happen. I always mount these switches so that pushing in will turn off.

Lately, I have been using the switches which have a battery capacity indicator light. They are fairly expensive; but, I feel worth it, as you know at a glance how much battery you have left.

meaden

I have a widget that keeps that from happening...ask me how I know Plus, I can tell at a glance that the plane is definately off.

I'm more afraid the switch will some how get pushed in in flight if I do it the other way around. I know it won't. I just do it that way for my peace of mind.

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

As others have stated, I mount them away from the exhaust residue, and set them up so that accidentally bumping will not turn the plane off. That means slide switches are on in the rearward position, push/pull switches are set up with the switch in to the on position. My trip to the flying field is only 5 minutes, so if it gets pushed in on transport, its no big deal. I can always recharge at the field if necessary. A Superbrain fast charger works great off the car or field box battery.

Brad

aerowoof

like most others I have been mounting switches on the side opposite of the exhaust or in some case hiddedn in nose gear wheel wells .with on towards the rear and in is on,I would rather waste a trip to the field than have a helper bump the switch and push it in for off and losse the plane been doing it this way since 1970.

Dr1Driver

There is no standard, but do it the same way on every plane. With a vertical mounted switch, it's always up for on. With a horizontal switch, it's always forward for on. I NEVER do it any other way, so I don't have to remember which way is on for any particular plane.

Dr.1

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

Same for me. I go with the air flow. Back is on. forward is off. Almost everybody at our field does it the same way. Been doing it so long it doesn't feel right any other way. Dennis

Mode One

Helpers could also accidently hook on the pin and pull it out and turn it off, just as easily as accidently pushing it in! When did it become an unwritten law that "IN" MUST be "ON"? It just Ain't so! I can go with a switch mounted vertical, that up would almost always be on. If horizontal, one way, or the other, and it's certainly your choice. I just looked my planes over and I have two with slide switches; one, forward is on, the other, pushing to the right is on. The rest all have pull out for on and in for off. This is "commonsense" to me and has worked since I started using the internal switch/charging jack units in the mid 1970s with never a problem or accidental turn off.

The only "Code" is; what makes sense to you. I also never simply rely on moving the switch to the OFF position, after I've switched to OFF, I then jiggle the sticks to make sure the plane truly is OFF. Again, this method has worked for me a long, long time, without incidence!

Mode One

This is an interesting discussion, surely more have comment?!

telejojo

L eft side if I can because thats where I'm starting it from that way if something happens like forget to tirn on the rec. WOT........it's easier to get to in emergency.

CustomPC

Thanks for the answers guys.

To date, i've always mounted the switch on the left side with the switch sliding towards the nose for ON. The little memory trick i used was "push the switch the way the plane will be travelling".

Now, having read your replies, i can see a lot of merit in having the switch slide towards the tail for on.

One being that airflow could force the switch to off (plausible but probably unlikely).

The second being that if it snagged on clothing the most likely direction of the snag would be pulling from nose to tail.

My switches are all approx mid wing. As a right handed person i feel most comfortable carrying any plane with my left hand on the leading edge of the left wing and my right holding the tail. I carry the model at hip height with my body immediately behind the trailing edge of the left wing.
I watched most of my clubmates handle their models in the same fashion and it's very common in my club to carry another members plane to flight line so that he can hold the radio safely.

Handling the plane in this way, it is very plausable that a sleeve or watch band could snag the switch and drag it towards the rear.

I myself will now be adopting REAR is ON from now on.

As has been said, left side or right side is really dependant on the exhaust placement. It's sensible to keep the switch away from the oily exhaust. That also makes it highly likely that anyone carrying the model will choose to do so from the opposite side to avoid being slimed in oil. This means that the switch will usually be on the carrying side increasing the chances of it being snagged.

P.S. The Australian standard for electric light switches is Down for ON, opposite to the USA. If i were to make the switch vertical i would have it as Down for On for local consistency.

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

On the push pull switches, I've seen flyers that attach a ribbon to the switch when its in the out position, similar to full scale planes' that says "remove before flight". It acts to prevent the switch from being unintentionally pushed in during transport, and flags the pilot that the plane is off. It has to be removed before the switch can be pushed in to turn the plane on.


Brad

kamikazejoe2

I do it reverse logic being I need to pull it out to switch it on and it doesnt switch accidently by being bumped while transportation or while it is parked. I wouldn't want to end up with a drained battery by murphy's law

jetmech05

standard aviation for me.....toward the windshield is on....so side mounted switch forward is on..switch away from the exhaust

camdyson

Another option is to get a hifi-style jack and socket from your local electrical parts supplier - like on the end of headphones. You mount the socket in the side of the fuz, and inserting the plug turns it off. Attatch a red ribbon to the plug, and simply remove to fly. Once landed, re-insert.

You can't accidentally turn a hole off!

Cheers,

Cam

Mode One

A lot of talk about accidental Turn-Offs. This is therefore related to this topic! The only accidental turn off I've heard of was a guy hand launching a combat plane. As he did, his fingers rubbed the forward/On switch, turning it off! Even this was only the guy's theory on what happened. Other then this, I have never heard of this failure actually happening. Let's hear some other stories!

BillyGoat

Interesting how everybody has there logic for mounting a switch certain way. Well I might as well throw out mine too.

I like to use a push pull and have it so push in is on. Like mentioned above I too use a wedge or block of some sort to avoid accidentally switching on during transport. Sure I would be disappointed to find that my plane had been on during the entire trip to the field, however nobody got hurt. To me that’s much better than accidentally get switched off while the engine is running. In that situation the throttle servo could quickly peg wide open (if you’re not using failsafe)... Just another point of view.