Wire / cable for connecting my first switch

[David Rogers]

Hey all,

It's the SWITCH virgin here ..... :p

Well, I have a Hagstrom KE-72 and Breakout Board and have a few momentary switches on their way to me ..... so I want to get ready to connect my first switch up to the Hagstrom, assign it a key command from FS and jump for joy if my first ever foray into implenenting the most basic of switches works!

Before I can do that, I need some wire to connect the switch to the Hagstrom.....

I have a spare Cat 5 cable here; so if I cut off the connectors and use, for example blue wire at one end going into the switch, and blue wire at the other end going into the Hagstrom input (plus another colour for the ground), it should be as easy as that right ?

:D

[Mike.Powell]

That will certainly work, however...

The CAT5 cable I have is solid; moderately flexible, but it breaks after a bit of flexing. If your wire is also solid, you might consider using stranded wire. It tolerates more abuse before breaking.

[Trevor Hale]

Hi David,

Mike is right, however. As long as you don't wiggle the wires vigorously after they are soldered or connected you should be just fine.

Your Hagstrom board is using very low current, and very low voltage therefore this cable will do the trick.

Trev

[andarlite]

One really good feature of the KE72 that I like is that the switches can all be connected together to common ground. Then with each Cat 5 cable, since it has 8 wires, you can connect up 8 switches to each cable. With careful plannng, you can avoid a spaghetti nightmare.

Regards,
Henry

[Tim]

David,

I have used two different methods.

- Ordered 40 conductor, stranded, colored ribbon cable from Mouser.com.

- Found an un-used parallel port printer cable and cut off the ends. I believe the cable was 25ft long. Wire was color coded and stranded. Worked well going from the overhead to the MIP.

Richard

[David Rogers]

Excellent - really helpful info guys.

I will drive ahead with the Cat 5 cable and let you know how I get on !

This site is a life saver (from a cockpit building perspective!).

:)

[Michael Carter]

That will certainly work, however...

The CAT5 cable I have is solid; moderately flexible, but it breaks after a bit of flexing. If your wire is also solid, you might consider using stranded wire. It tolerates more abuse before breaking.

Though it probably makes little difference for how we use it, standed wire is for DC, solid wire is for AC.

[David Rogers]

Just to check,

You know how the Hagstrom has 1 common ground connector for each line of switch inputs .... ? ....... do I combine the ground wires from each switch before screwing then into the ground on the Hagstrom ?

Eg.... let's say I am wiring 3 x push button momentary switches into inputs 01, 02 and 03 of the hagstrom. The main wires run from each switch into each input and the ground wires from each switch are combined (intertwined) together and all go into the common ground for those inputs .....

Is that about right ?

[Trevor Hale]

Correct 1 wire from each switch to 1 2 3 and one wire from all switches to the GND Terminal.

Trev

[Trevor Hale]

Though it probably makes little difference for how we use it, standed wire is for DC, solid wire is for AC.

I am an electronics Engineer, and I have yet to hear that one before Mike. You haven't been into the whiskey again have ya LMAO.

Seriously though, I haven't hear that before.

[andarlite]

David

Just to add to what Trevor said, you really only need to have one GND wire from the breakout box going to your switches so in your example you would need 4 wires. On your breakout box, each set of 9 connectors on the sides all have a GND..... they're all the same...... so don't think that just because you're connecting switches to that one side that you have to use that particular GND.... any of them will do.

Regards,
Henry

[Mike.Powell]

Though it probably makes little difference for how we use it, standed wire is for DC, solid wire is for AC.

Interesting. Hadn't heard that. Do you know the reason? I spent the bulk of my career designing digital electronics and dipped my toes in the analog world only a little. Our primary reason for choosing stranded versus solid wire was the difference in material fatique life.

[David Rogers]

Thanks again folks - I'm there ..... :)

Awaiting momentary switches but I am ready to roll once they arrive.

Thanks for the tip Henry about the ground connections all being the same on the b/o board.

All the best :)

[Michael Carter]

I was taught that in the Air Force but I forget why the difference. Been too long ago, but for some reason that has always stuck in my head.