diode question

[Locke141]

This is purely an academic question as I would be to afraid to try it. The I-pac is not cheep.

I've wired all the LED's on my pedestal to an illuminated switch and am running them all off a 12v regulated power supply.

I am also using a 12VDC Toggle Switch with Safety Cover as a shift key for admin functions. It works fine as a shift key but the LED in side the switch does not light off the I-pac's power.

My question is could I add a diode to the positive line off the I-pack  andsplit the positive line tied to the illuminator switch and only use the ground off the 12v line to light the LED with out frying my I-pac.

[PL1]

Wire the zener diode between ground and the IPac input, just like on a 12v coin recognizer.



With 12v in, the toggle switch should output 12v in one position and ground in the other, right?

The zener diode regulates the 12v down to 5v = button not pressed as far as the IPac is concerned.

Flip the switch and now it's ground = button pressed as far as the IPac is concerned.

You can test the voltages with your multimeter before hooking it up to the IPac to be sure you won't fry anything.   


Scott
EDIT: On second thought, I was thinking about a 4-tab switch -- not exactly sure how to wire a 3-tab switch for this application.  :

[Locke141]

Wire the zener diode between ground and the IPac input, just like on a 12v coin recognizer.



With 12v in, the toggle switch should output 12v in one position and ground in the other, right?

The zener diode regulates the 12v down to 5v = button not pressed as far as the IPac is concerned.

Flip the switch and now it's ground = button pressed as far as the IPac is concerned.

You can test the voltages with your multimeter before hooking it up to the IPac to be sure you won't fry anything.   


Scott
EDIT: On second thought, I was thinking about a 4-tab switch -- not exactly sure how to wire a 3-tab switch for this application.  :

Ya I did not think that would work as the i-pack out put voltage is more like .5 v on my multimeter.

Honestly its not worth risking. It was more like a thought experiment. 

[PL1]

On third thought, you could use a relay like InfantSorrow did for his coin acceptor here.



If you use a 12v relay, you don't need a zener diode, but you may want a snubber diode to prevent relay chatter.

This fits your application perfectly.


Scott