Thank You for the informative video. I am wiring a navigation and mast light for my kayak. Quick, to the the point, clear explanation, and foremost, no obnoxious introduction video nor historical lineage as to the origin of switches. I know now why your video was the first one to appear in the que when searched for, spot on.
ive been searching for something like this for quite a while now, finally found a solution and answer to my problem. thanks a lot, you really helped me out there!
Knowledge acquired Thank you I'm a first time bike builder and I want this on my project Basically its for a day maker 7inch led, I want a switch for park light, headlight (low beam) and off. THIS IS PERFECT!! Thank you bruh 👊
Okay - is it just me, or is this switch one of the most intuitive switches (the video is good, I'm just describing the switch). You would think that the direction of the toggle bar would dictate which of the two outer pins are connected to the middle pin. For example, if the toggle is pointing down, its the lower pin that's connected,and vice-versa. But no, its completely the opposite of what you think 😵💫
Brilliant demonstration of an on-off-on switch, and without a doubt the finest one I've seen on RU-vid. After generously contributing to your video's view count, I successfully cloned/tested your circuit, but with the polarities essentially reversed. Is there anything wrong with connecting the battery + to the switch's center (off) pin and the two outside (on) pins wired to supply + to the LEDs (each grounded back to the battery -)?
Great video. One question why do you run the ground to the switch and not the positive to the switch? I’m from America and I’m guessing you’re from England. Is that how they do it there?
Oh I could use ground everywhere is the device that is the decision-maker when she gets turn on and off that’s really cool I never heard it said that way before thank you so much
I have a switch just like this and am trying to use it to switch between two relays for a electric radiator fan. In my case instead of ground in the middle, would I use 12v ignition triggered positive and then on top and bottom posts one to each relay to trigger it?
do you think its possible to use the 3 way switch to emulate an inverter so for example 1 would make the window open and 2 would make the window close?
Hi, really good and clear video! It might be a stupid question but if the switch is rated for 125V 10A, how to estimate the max current for a voltage of 36V? Is it 10A or is it more? Thanks in advance ;)
Me and my friend are trying to make a small battery powered car for our school science exhibition, and we wanted to make the car go both forward and backward, we thought of using 3 way switches like the one showed in the video but i am just not able to figure out the connections. this video really helped in understanding how these switches work but i need to connect just one of these with 4 DC motors and make them go both forward and backward so can anyone please help me
Hi. How about lighting those led at once when you put ON on any sides? not separate light? Just like the upper ON has high light and the lower ON is low light. I need on my project 😢 Thanks
If we have to connect ECU ENGINE CONTROL UNIT WITH 12V BATTERY WITH LED light in 3 way postion toggle switch how we connect these 2 thing with same voltage
I'm trying to wire a 3-way switch to control a hi/lo beam headlight on my bike. The headlight has 3 wires. One is supposed to go to battery negative (according to manufacturer), the other 2 control the high and or low beams in the light. I'm trying to figure out which steps in your video I should leave out for my situation. Please help!!!!!
So if I'm understand in this current and you only want it to turn on when in the on position, it isnt necessary to wire the wire the off position at all right?
excellent, thank you. I am wiring a NASA - made in UK, light on my sailboat mast. It is tri-color or anchor light. It requires one of these switches just as you have wired it.
Ok question if I had a led toggle 3 way switch and used the input and outputs like u have in video as ground control to trigger relays how could I power the led light in the toggle? I assume it would have a 4th sperate pin for the led light? Would that be a separate input just for the led on the switch from the outputs?
Great video - easy to follow. I am attempting to wire my VW van so that I can switch my radio between the starter battery and the rear auxiliary battery. I'm assuming the radio input wire would go into the middle pin then each battery would go on top/bottom pins, correct?
Great and holy work to educate the people, Can we use this one switch for 220 v and 12 v for a ceiling fan at home. or tell me the other way that how to separate the tow line.
Could also use this same 3 way switch for one 12 volt outlet, and then 2 separate power sources like van battery for one, and solar battery for the other source. That away you can the van powering the outlet when driving, and the solar battery powering the outlet when not driving? Is that correct?
Have set of foglamps disconnected but cant remember how they plug in have red and whit and blue wire where do they go to make them work is Bella confusing me!!!
It sounds like your fog lights are designed to use a relay. You'd need to check the wiring for your exact model but you could try red to positive battery, white to negative battery and then blue to relay. For testing without a relay, briefly touch the blue wire to positive after red and white are already wired. Male sure to check the wiring manual before making any permanent connections.
You can search youtube for a video from Endlessparts, titled: How to reverse a DC Motor with a toggle switch He demonstrates how to do that, for a DC motor.
Thanks for uploading this video! I have been looking to use something like this in an art project. I am a total circuitry newb and I have been scouring the internet looking for a way to have two lights controlled by one switch with an off position. Is there a safe way to have this work in a permanent way plugged into wall? Also where did you get your switch? I can only find double pole.
You can buy AC rated switches which look and operate pretty much identically to this 12V version. I got this one from a hardware shop, they're pretty common. If you just want two bulbs to turn on and off at the same time, any regular switch can do that. But I'm assuming you want the option of both bulbs off or to then have either one switched on, is that right? There are also 3 pole AC switches designed for a regular wall plate installation but they're not very common so you'd have to order it online. If you don't have much electrical experience, you need to be careful because AC shocks can be deadly.
I have 2 led strips on my motorcycle and trying to switch to this type of 3 way toggle switch. I have 2 positives and 2 negatives, 1 for each led strip. I have a separate positive/negative wire, positive into my ignition fuse and negative to the frame. I put all the ground wires together on one side positive on the other and the positive fuse wire in the center. when toggled on 1 way it's fine but the other on position it burns the wire. what can I do? I'm so lost with the 3 way toggle I couldn't find a 2 way.
Don't connect ground and live to the same switch. Connect the positive of your LED strips directly to the ignition fuse. Connect the negative of one LED strip to one side of the switch and the negative of the other LED strip to the other side of the switch.
Gadget Addict Thank you so much! if I do that I'll only have 1 led strip going though at a time right? what if I want both on at the same time with 1 switch?
Correct, only one LED strip would turn on. If you want both to turn on, just connect vehicle ground into the middle of the switch and both negative of the LED strips to one side of the switch. You don't need a 3-way switch for that.
Gadget Addict I would've used a 2 way if I could've but there wasn't any in stock unfortunately. Can I still do that with the 3 way or should I just get a 2 way?
You can do it with the 3-way. Just connect ground from your vehicle into the center switch and then both LED negatives to one side of the switch and ignore the other side of the switch.
In the beginning of the video you call the middle prong the "power input" which would be a positive like the + side of a battery but then later in the video your calling the same middle prong "ground" which would be negative. This is confusing.
It could be ground or positive, depending on your preference and project. If you put positive in the middle, you will have positive on whatever side the switch is set to. If you put ground or negative in the middle, you will have ground or negative on whichever side the switch is set to. If you put positive through the switch, your ground will go direct, bypassing the switch. If you put ground on the switch, your positive will go direct, bypassing the switch. This switch is only controling one side, either positive or negative.