Wiring a switch with a LED in it....

[steveeverson]

Hi David- think this is prob what you need and a bargain at £18.99!

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...2149&doy=29m12

And here's a link to the colour codes for thecables that come out of it..

http://members.chello.at/theodor.lau...mputer/psu.htm

theres also some good info on the overhead page on ian sissons site
www.737ng.co.uk

Hope that helps
Steve

[David Rogers]

[Edit: Steve, fantastic! thanks very much for this..... now go land that 737 !]

Nico - appreciate what you are saying but again, the sync just isn't important to me.... I fully understand the constraints of a standalone LED but that suits my needs. I am going for a practical / convenient sim build and the Hagstrom is perfect - won't be going down the full I/O route....

Thanks Mike / Steve - I don't have a spare PC Power Supply but they are cheap to pick up and sounds perfect if I can power around 3 LEDs from the supply (I am only looking to wire 3 of these types of LED switches).

If you could let me know what the colours are that would be fabbbbb! (Would hate to blow my attic up ! ).

Regards,

[mpl330]

Ok - check this link:

http://home.fuse.net/Walts_Place/powersupplyconn.htm

Red is 5v and Yellow is 12v but it is worth checking depending on which psu you get hold of - on mine i have to short out pins 13 and 14 on the ATX power supply connector to get it running - this is in place of the switch on your pc case...

Steve - just noticed you beat me to it, although you can probably get cheaper from online pc suppliers - also there was a tutorial somewhere on making the timings work on the gear lever movement so that the gear up / down LEDS changed as the gear lifted / descended - will try find it again...

All the best
Mike

[David Rogers]

Excellent - cheers Mike!

So would I connect both 5v+ and 5v- wires to the LED terminal of the switch ?


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[kiek]

Excellent - cheers Mike!

So would I connect both 5v+ and 5v- wires to the LED terminal of the switch ?

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+5 V and GND should never be connected to one and the same terminal, you will short circuit your power supply...

[mpl330]

Let me check what you are saying -
from your I/O board you have a wire that will go to your switch to indicate the switch is on, you will also have a wire that is the -ve / common that connects to the other terminal on your switch (to complete the loop)???

If this is the case I would expect to be able to put the LED inbetween the ON terminal of your switch and the IO board itself so that when the switch is on the power goes into the LED and out the other side back to the IO board - if this is the case then you may not need the seperate power supply if you are powering your IO board by other means (and it has enough power to power the LED) - more electronically minded please chime in here if it wouldnt work.....

Mike

[mounty]

David,

Email Hagstrom, they have a couple of diagrams for wiring LED's. I'd send you a copy of the one I had but lost it when my system crashed. It's pretty simple wiring them in by the looks of it. You can also wire LED's in so that they are lite when in the switch off position - you just wire it into the other (third) terminal if you have a three position switch. The elec and eng hydraulics have annunciators on when the switch is off, as do probe heat a & b. Use the center terminal for the common ground in a three position switch - that allows you to use LEDs in two different ways. If you want to have an LED lite with the switch in the off position, you have to run a + wire from the third terminal to the Hagstrom thus taking up one input terminal.

Rob

[mounty]

OOOPs,

If memory serves me right, your LED is connected to the common ground. Can't remember which way round it is but the anode would be connected say to the ground terminal (center) and the cathode would run to the Hagstrom common ground which you can daisy chain. When you throw the switch, this completes the power-ground circuit and the LED lites up. Depending on the type of LED you have you may or may not need a resistor. Kingbright supplies LED's with built in resistors so that would be the best way to go.

Rob

[Geremy Britton]

the power supply for the LED is connected to the middle switch in a little circuit. The two outer ones are for the circuit for the switch. the middle will be to power to the led in the switch. i personally didn't want to get involved with voltages that could kill you although it did cross my mind at first for led/switches etc. i just use battery holders that can be picked up pretty cheaply or from hacked non working electronics etc.

just be careful when playing with mains power,

gez

[David Rogers]

Argghhhh! Too much information - take a read of it all above !!

Ok, I'm only joking and I am really grateful for the help.... but I simply don't have the background on electronics (even basic), and I find I can't answer the questions that people are asking me, in order to help with answers !

I think I will leave this for now.... I thought it was going to be a lot more straightforward, ie...someting like .... "just connect an additional wire from the Hagsrom to the 3rd connector on the switch too, and you'll get the LED on when the switch is made".....but it appears a lot more fussy.

To try and answer some questions;

- The switch in question (that contains the LED) is currently connected and functioning perfectly with the Hagstrom, other than the LED. As I said earlier, I know how to use and wire a Hagstrom, and how to make a basic switch (without LED complexities!).

- The switch has 3 connectors on the back and I have a wire running from 1 connector, to the IN02 input on the Hagstrom.

- A second wire is then running from the Hagstrom's Ground part, into one of the other connectors on the switch. (Thus completing the circuit).

- There is a 3rd connector on the switch which is then for the LED, but I still don't know how this would be attached to power or a battery.

Sorry, please don't take my frustration with this as a sign of being ungrateful for the attempts to help ........theres just no clear answer yet.

Let's forget mains power for now - if I simply wanted to attach batteries to this LED switch and had a suitable battery cradle, how would I do this? There are 2 connections coming off the battery cradle (+ and -), but I only have 1 connector for the LED on the switch.......... that is where I am most confused ????

There's a national cockpit builders commendation to the person that can answer this question in pure laymans / dummies terms !

Thanks.