Toggle Switch Question

[Entacmaea]

Hey there, I'm trying to use a toggle switch to switch between two sets of led lights (with different voltages). What type of toggle would I need? I'd like to have it be off in the center position, and turn on one set of lights to the right (3.7v), then when I switch to the left, it turns off the first set, and turns on the second(14.4v). I'm confused if I need a DPDT (6 terminals) or can do it with a SPDT (3 terminals). Any wiring help would be great as well. I think I need the DPDT because of the different voltages, but not sure.

Thanks for the help- appreciate it. Happy New Year!

Best, Peter

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Depends on your driver. If it supports the whole voltage range, stepping up is easy. But dropping the voltage in a driver output can lead to a current spike. What is your power setup?

 

[blgentry]

You want a DPDT 3 Position switch. This is news to me, but the industry name for these seems to be "ON-NONE-ON". So in the center position, the switch doesn't connect any terminals to any others.

You'd simply feed in your two Voltage sources to the two center pins (the INs), and connect the light sources to the left output of one pole, and the right output of the other pole. You seem to have it down based on how you described it.

Good luck. If you have any doubts, wire it up without any lights connected and use a multimeter to test that you're doing what you think you want to do.

Brian.

 

[Entacmaea]

Thanks- AppleSnail- I have separate drivers for the separate voltages, so no need to worry about spikes- I just need to switch the power inputs to the separate lights.

Blgentry- I thought about the DPDT switch (ON-OFF-ON) with 3 terminals (or do you mean a 6 terminal switch?), but won't connecting both the 3.7v and 14.8v sources to the center position (in 3 terminal switch) mean that both voltages will flow to either the left/right when the toggle is switched right or left? You are right, I should test, but just trying to get clarification before I buy the switch.

 

[Megatrowned]

A DPDT switch would have 6 connection points. It has two sets of on-off-on contacts which are controlled by the same handle. It appears that this is what you would need. One set of contacts per voltage. You could put the + from each voltage to the center terminals, and the - to opposite ends of the switch. This way, when one driver's contact is closed, the other is open. Flip the switch the other way, and this reverses.

 

[VidPro]

A DPDT switch would have 6 connection points. .

That is what we would use here, even on some projects that can use a SPDT (1 conductor 2 directions) because you can get (sort of) a full isolation DPDT (2 seperate conductors switching 2direction ) and "center off" another name for the "pause in the center" (no connections) Good switch type to have spares of.

DPDT

- - -
- - - off position

On position

-_- - one of your DISconnections as seen on the right side
-_- - one of your connections as seen on the left


SPDT
- - -

A SPDT would be easily applied when one side of the battery is always connected , or via a "ground connection" (one side connected throughout) , but when your talking 2 voltages and asking that question, why bother guessing when you can have 2 seperate isolated switchings. Again thats what we do here, think about it less, and isolate it more :-) Lazeeeeyy



Dont forget that some drivers on the Led side can fail without a load connected. I assume your switching the battery not the LEDs so that would not be an issue.
Dont forget that many LED type power drivers have a positive + common in places, instead of the old school negative - ground.
doubble checking with a voltmeter is a handy on-hands way check that quick and get it done.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

You could use a SPDT Center "OFF" switch by connecting the ground sides of both battery packs to the center post and the posts on opposite ends to the LED strings that are already connected to the + post of EACH battery pack (separately). NOTE: A switch that does NOT have center off will have either one light or the other on continually.