LED Switch

[Octave]

I have this switch to turn my cold cathodes on and off. I bought the switch the same time I bought the lights from Xoxide.com. I wired it up so it turns the lights on and off no problem, the only thing is that it's an LED switch, and the LED stays on constantly. I've tried a ton of different ways of hooking it up and still don't get the results I want. I need the LED to turn off when the switch is off, and the LED on when the switch is on.

The switch is at http://store.yahoo.com/xoxide/rocker.html .

It's a pretty regular switch, except at the "top" it has two smaller connectors side to side. But if you look at it from the side, it looks like a three pronged LED hook up.

EDIT: I looked all over the Xoxide forums and did a google search and still haven't seen anything about this kind of switch.

[Duffy]

if you could show us a pic of the leads, that could help. Here is a link that shows how the switches that i work with the most are wired. http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ele-75.html

what you might want to try is hooking the LED leads in parrell with your CC tubes. so when the lights are on the same power will supply your LED in the switch. Now you might have to put in a resistor in line so you don't burn out your LED.

[Octave]

Okay, I don't have any real means of getting the switch on here. So it's time to see how good I am with ascii art.


---[LED]
---[POW] Side veiw
---[GRD]

But the LED lead is actually two small connections split into two. Kind of like [||] instead of just being [|] . Wow, that is probably not helpful at all.

Now, on the bottom two is the switch part. That part is wired fine, stuff turns on and off. But the top two go to the LED. I hope this helps. Sorry it's not very good looking.

[Slayer2k3]

......that diagram cant be right.......


i have a few switches like that, only the whole flip part on the switch lights up, instead of a dot. anyway.

there are 2 connectors on there, that are positive, that are the actuall lines for the device you are turning on and off. the LED is only tapping off of one of those positive lines. so the only way the LED can be running at all times, is if you put the wrong positive wire, on the wrong connector. try switching only the 2 positives around with each other, n see what happens.

if it still stays on, maybe it is supposed to? you can either leave it as is, or just disconnect the negative on the switch so it doesnt light up.

EDIT. also, this kind of rocker-type switches arent too reliable to begin with, so maybe you got a defective switch. the metal connectors inside the switch are known to go bad. head down to an autoparts store, and go into the electrical section. most of them will have these switches for alot cheaper anyway. id get another light-up switch and test it, see if it does the same thing.

[Octave]

Okay, the top little nipplet is split up into two, a plus and a minus. The bottom is just like a regular rocker switch. So that means that the LED is supposed to stay on CONSTANTLY. In other words, LAME. So I'm just going to go and buy a new LED rocker, hopefully one that isn't a looser.

[anode]

Originally posted by Octave@Aug 11 2004, 05:42 PM
Okay, the top little nipplet is split up into two, a plus and a minus. The bottom is just like a regular rocker switch. So that means that the LED is supposed to stay on CONSTANTLY. In other words, LAME. So I'm just going to go and buy a new LED rocker, hopefully one that isn't a looser.
You got a meter?

The little split connector doesn't sound quite right to me. Is it the same switch that Duffy posted?

You can still have it work. 12V in, 12V out to what you are turning on, the 12V out also goes to the LED +. The LED - goes to ground.


A meter will make this all SO easy to figure out. Radio Shack for like $20 Even their little credit card one is fine for what we do with these things.