LED Push Buttons

[matta757]

Hi all,

I am looking at buying some of these push buttons with a built in LED light from Opencockpits (see link).

http://www.opencockpits.com/catalog/...8.html?image=0

Does anyone own any of these? Could you possibly give me the dimensions of the button? It doesn't have any listed on the website. I want to use them for my 757 overhead, mainly for fuel pumps and hydraulic switches.

Also, what does it take for the LED to work? Does it simply come on whenever the button is pushed? Does it require additional power? I intend to connect them to one of Leo's joystick controller boards. Any help you might be able to contribute would be greatly appreciated!

Best regards,

Matt

[N242AM]

Hi Matt,

I believe those are Mountain switches. You might want to consider buying them from Mouser.com. Located in Texas. Not sure who would be the cheapest.

Mouser does have downloadable .pdf data files for all their hardware.

I used that switch a lone time ago in an Airbus FCU. From memory, the LED illuminates when the switch is in the ON position. There were four wires on the back. Two for the switch and two for the LED power.

I'll look and see if I can provide you a link to the switch at Mouser.

Link to the switch: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...DrL07hEox44%3d

Link to the .pdf: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/MS-100226.pdf

Please do some research on these switches. They are for printed circuit board mounting. When I used them, I had to glue them into the plexiglass panel. Not the best application but it did seem to work.

Here is a link to an LED tutorial. http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html
Using a resistor is very important with LEDs. It limits the current flow. Not using a resistor will burn out the LED the first time you apply power. Sometimes the interface board designer will include the resistor in the board so an additional resistor will not be needed.

[matta757]

Thanks for the great reply! I am a little concerned about the difficultly level of installing these switches. You said you used them before, but is there another type that you would recommend instead? Looking at the dimensions, they are a little small for what I need anyways, so now I am looking for alternate options. I need switches that are preferably square and around 2cm. All the ones I can find are around 1cm. I appreciate your help!

Matt

Hi Matt,

I believe those are Mountain switches. You might want to consider buying them from Mouser.com. Located in Texas. Not sure who would be the cheapest.

Mouser does have downloadable .pdf data files for all their hardware.

I used that switch a lone time ago in an Airbus FCU. From memory, the LED illuminates when the switch is in the ON position. There were four wires on the back. Two for the switch and two for the LED power.

I'll look and see if I can provide you a link to the switch at Mouser.

Link to the switch: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...DrL07hEox44%3d

Link to the .pdf: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/MS-100226.pdf

Please do some research on these switches. They are for printed circuit board mounting. When I used them, I had to glue them into the plexiglass panel. Not the best application but it did seem to work.

Here is a link to an LED tutorial. http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html
Using a resistor is very important with LEDs. It limits the current flow. Not using a resistor will burn out the LED the first time you apply power. Sometimes the interface board designer will include the resistor in the board so an additional resistor will not be needed.

[Skylane]

Hi Matt,

Maybe you find what you are looking for on http://www.conrad.com
Conrad does not have a representative in the US but the catalog is very detailed, brand and dimensions are availeble.
If you find a part you like, you can look for the part via Google to buy it in the US. Or have the parts send to you by someone on here.

Kind regards, Nico

[Perik]

Hello Matt

You could try to make the Korry your self:

Look at the tutorial from Steve:

http://home.roadrunner.com/~mbecker/...h%20notes3.pdf

There are also a couple of other Korry tutorials available in the Tutorial section, but for those you may need a CNC.

Besides that I agree with N242AM about www.mouser.com - a great place to do shopping.

[N242AM]

Hi Matt,

To be honest, that is one problem I have with those that sell panels only. You have to find a switch to fit the whole dimensions they cut in the panel. Sometimes a difficult and frustrating task.

I have no direct knowledge of a momentary switch that size which includes an LED. Mouser has a search function but I don't recall if metric size is an option.

Maybe someone else here has another idea like the Korry suggestion above.

[matta757]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. That korry pdf is VERY interesting... I might find myself doing that! I look at all the square switches on Mouser and all of them are around 1cm square, so I was thinking of just putting them behind a cut out 2cm square piece of MFD, sort of like the korry thing.

Thanks again for all the input!

Matt

[Perik]

Matt, here is another great Korry tutorial plus a lot more
from Jeroen op den Akker:

http://home.hccnet.nl/jwopdenakker/building%20tip.html

[twisted8]

I used the opencockpits switches and yeah not very close to a real korry switch but they are easy to implement.

Matt, here is another great Korry tutorial plus a lot more
from Jeroen op den Akker:

http://home.hccnet.nl/jwopdenakker/building%20tip.html

This is looks a great tutorial but what has stopped me from trying it, is getting the cubes made so I did some googling and found some 3/4" (19mm) acrylic cubes. Looks like it could work:
http://www.jmkdisplays.com/shapes.html
or
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=136&

Will have to give this a try some day!

[matta757]

Thank you everyone for this input!

Alright, now here is my question; regarding the Korry button setup in particular, how would I go about wiring the buttons so as to make the LEDs work? What kind of power source (built-in, outside or otherwise) would be required to lite them? I am planning on having a total of about 20 on my overhead that would need powering. Also, with the Korry setup, how do you setup the LEDs to only illuminate when the button is pushed on? I know these are a lot of questions and am not expecting an easy answer, but any help would be very much appreciated!

Regards,

Matt