Lighted Switches

[Marc Ausman]

From email:
I was wondering if the panel switches could use an LED indicator or if there just isn't enough power running through them to get the LED to illuminate.

If not, do you have a suggestion(s) for ways to wire them in that would work.

I am using the VPX-PRO

Thank you in advance

[Marc Ausman]

The switch inputs on the VP-X are active with a ground input, so there is no power on the line or the switch.

Some switches have a light that is wired into the switching circuit itself and pulls power off that circuit. Those type of switches won’t work because there is no power going through the switch.

You need to find a switch that has the lighting component separated from the switching component. You can then run 12v out to the lighted part and it will switch on and off based on the position of the switch. These switches also have more terminals than normal, as some are for the light and some are for the switch. Best thing to do is rig something up on the bench and test it out before committing to it.

[Marc Ausman]

Depending on the light, the light may glow dimly when the switch is off because it is getting a ground path through the VP-X.

To solve this issue, wire a small diode in between the VP-X switch input and the switch as shown below. Note the diode has a band on it showing the polarity. Wire it backwards and it won't work.

BE SURE to try this with one switch before wiring them all this way.

[mmarien]

I used the Aveo RockRack system that uses an LED for the light so I suspect they would work without the extra diode.

I thought about this when I upgraded to the VP-X. The problem here is that the light only indicates that the switch is on and not necessarily that there is power to the circuit so whether they are grounded through VP-X or just to ground makes little difference. A better method would be to power the light from the circuit that is turned on by the switch. This would ensure that the light would indicate power to the device. Or use the current fault detect feature where it isn't obvious. The radio or xponder backlight makes it obvious that the device is getting power.