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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Marky_1979 on February 05, 2009, 01:10:32 pm

Title: Help wiring up leaf switch
Post by: Marky_1979 on February 05, 2009, 01:10:32 pm
I know how to wire up a micro switch but iv never used a leaf switch before is it the same principle? if so which one of the 2 contacts is the ground?
Title: Re: Help wiring up leaf switch
Post by: SavannahLion on February 05, 2009, 01:18:23 pm
I know how to wire up a micro switch but iv never used a leaf switch before is it the same principle? if so which one of the 2 contacts is the ground?

Pick one.  ;D

From looking at the meager selection of leafs I have, it doesn't seem to matter. As long as the insulating tongue is there, ground could be either.

Even if the insulating tongue is gone, I can't really see a situation where that might be a problem.

Based on photos of the underside of control panels, it seems a majority give the shorter tongue ground.  :dunno

Which reminds me, wasn't there someone who was manufacturing new replacement leaf switches?
Title: Re: Help wiring up leaf switch
Post by: Marky_1979 on February 05, 2009, 01:20:29 pm
Cheers buddy 
Title: Re: Help wiring up leaf switch
Post by: Blanka on February 05, 2009, 03:58:00 pm
A switch is mostly a switch. It connects two contacts. As much as it does not matter how you hook up a microswitch (albeit there are 3-contact models in which case it could be a disconnecting switch too), it does not matter with leafs either.
Title: Re: Help wiring up leaf switch
Post by: Level42 on February 06, 2009, 06:30:54 am
A micro switch doesn't have a GND either. It has a COMMON though.

The pins are: Common, NO (Normally Open), NC (Normally Closed).

In this case, Normally means that the switch is in rest situation (NOT pushed).

The Common pin is connected to the moving part in the switch. So when the button is not pressed, the contact will be made to the NC pin. When the button is pressed, the moving part will switch from the NC pin to the NO pin. That's why you always hook up a microswitch between Common and NO (in the case of arcade pushbuttons).

A leaf switch simply only has a common and a NO and you can choose which is which. Must be one of the most basic concepts in electronics :D