Real world lever toggle switch durability

jessenator

jessenator

Well-known member
So this isn't meant to be a debate, but just raw "data." I'm looking for just actual experience with your own builds, but more especially builds in "customer" or customer hands, in use, be it studio, home, or gigs. I don't need a count as I'm not trying to out your business snafus. I want to know how reliable these things are out in the wild.

I'm just looking for a sub-mini spdt toggle that doesn't break itself or the bank:

Dailywell (Taiway clone): $0.90
Taiway: $1.95
Carling: $4.18 (MOQ of 100)

There are other cheaper ones that occasionally pop up, but I'm not considering them.

Taiway has a good rep.

Carling is supposed to be the best, hard wearing. I suppose 200% is twice the durability at least?

I'm mostly concerned about the durability at this size: as material thins the overall durability of a thing goes down.

The MOQ there is because I don't need/want lugged versions some places sell, but also the only way to get the precise config I want (pc pins, spdt, short bat) is to go to DigiKey.



So again, I don't care about your difference of opinion with another forum member's experience, everybody's got an oriface and they all stink. I just want your individual experiences with the hardware in your build. 👍
 
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I have a lot of pedals in the wild and toggle switches are pretty much the only thing that's ever come back to me for repairs. about 4-5 switches over the last 10 years or so. And all of them because someone stepped on it or kicked it or dropped it and the bat broke off. And all of them were long bat. So I stopped using long bat and those repairs dried up. I use the Dailywell brand from Tayda. Only a small portion of these were sub-mini though.
 
I don't pump out near the volume as some (many?) here so take it with a grain of salt but I've always had good luck with Taiways. The only sub minis I've had fail are ULTRA cheap Amazon specials (the "I ran out and didn't want to wait so just snagged whatever prime could get to me asap" type) or once or twice my own caveman DNA has broken a Taiway toggle because I'd tightened down the nut way too far and ended up physically cracking the switch body/casing

Other than that, in terms of regular routine out-and-about type use I've never had one go bad on me
 
For me the difference between the cheapest and a midpriced electromech part isn’t about how well it’s constructed, but what’s the quality of finishing. Price relates to QC. Cheapest parts I’ve gotten needed lug hole cleaning and scraping to get wire through, but on top of that there’s problems in metal composition which causes solder adhering problems. This unwillingness for solder easily leads to overheat damage aka unreliable switching.

Try few different ones and choose what you’re able to work with?

Oh, forget to mention the cheapest part X from country B can beat mid priced one from country C in quality etc. Just have to try and stick until quality drops?.
 
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I agree with @Erik S in that the tayda stuff is generally fine. The taiway clones from tayda are what I use, and I'm pretty sure it's what SBP sells. Never had one fail but like Erik said, they generally see less use than a footswitch and most people find the settings they like and leave it there.

I think @Betty Wont is also right and that the bat is likely what's going to be damaged and be sheared off with a misstep. Short bat would be the way to go if I were selling pedals in real numbers. That being said I've had far more issues with foot switches of different brands and had a batch of the red pro from tayda a few years back that had like 5 out of 30 that were DOA.
 
I see a lot of Taiway and Dailywell. I don't recall seeing a lot of Carling switches unless I just didn't recognize them.

I've damaged one with heat but otherwise not had any failures personally. I have received a couple new pedals with defective switches out of the box over the years.

It's wild to think how much money some boutique builders throw at fancy diodes and expensive caps that you can only hear on a spectrum analyzer, but you rarely see anyone splurge on a Carling or DeMont footswitch.... the one upgrade the build would actually benefit from.
 
I don't use the sub mini switches, but I've used the standard dailywell mini switches ones from Tayda. I like them, they work fine. I've had more issues with the 3pdt footswitches.

I use the short bat with a dress nut and place them very low with no threads showing. Because of this, I feel ok placing them near the footswitch, which I set at its highest setting.

When I solder to them I'm careful to let each lug cool before continuing, and I don't reuse them from old builds if they look at all funky. I haven't had any come back.
 
I relay like the design of "countersunk" sub mini switches where there is just a nub of a short bat poking through an oblong hole.
I know this isn't an answer to Jessenator's Q but I feel like that's probably the most durable utilization. I believe most non-faceplated designs use non-threaded subminis.
Maybe this would be the solution to you 9mm pot problem?
 
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