Please explain rotary switch wiring to me

megatrav

megatrav

Well-known member
I’m working on putting a 3-way rotary switch into my bass for series/parallel/mute(kill) and I cannot find a clean explanation of how to wire a rotary switch.

I also can’t tell if I need a 2p3t or a 3p3t but I think that is because I don’t understand how they operate (meaning what pins are engaged in each position)

Any help is appreciated!
 
Datasheet is first stop. There's not a universal pinout... There are some common pinout among form factors though. Do you have a rotary in mind?
 
The outer ring of contacts are positions, and the inner contacts are the poles. (On a toggle switch, the center contact is the pole, with the outer contacts the positions.) Many rotary switches allow you to limit the rotation of the knob, so the same switch could potentially be anywhere from 2 to 6 positions.

You have a few other choices too. One is the angle. 30 degrees is most common, but there are others. Also, how the switch switches—does it short (make before break) or not (break before make)? (I’m not sure if the latter is critical for you, but I think non shorting is what you want for this use.)

If this all seems confusing, before you solder, use you meter’s continuity testing to double check.
 
Alan W said:
The outer ring of contacts are positions, and the inner contacts are the poles. (On a toggle switch, the center contact is the pole, with the outer contacts the positions.) Many rotary switches allow you to limit the rotation of the knob, so the same switch could potentially be anywhere from 2 to 6 positions.

You have a few other choices too. One is the angle. 30 degrees is most common, but there are others. Also, how the switch switches—does it short (make before break) or not (break before make)? (I’m not sure if the latter is critical for you, but I think non shorting is what you want for this use.)

If this all seems confusing, before you solder, use you meter’s continuity testing to double check.
Click to expand...
I didn’t know they were adjustable. I wish there was more info on them that was easy to understand
 
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