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Name this type of switch...

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Propaganda

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Location
Not where my body is.
A 360 rotary switch which closes the contacts on two terminals only when the wheel is turned.

Like the ones commonly seen on car CD players.

Google is not helping me yet.
 
Do you mean like the volume dial on a stereo, just turns around in circles with no stop? Try farnell I think this is what you mean, just turn infinately and send a strobe like signal
 
Do you want a volume control can also turn the radio off (clicks when turned all the way to the left)? That's a Switch Potentiometer, and they'll have 2 extra leads that the switch function turns on when you start turning it to the right. The resistance level of the switch is not modified once turned on.

If you want something that you have to turn 360 degrees before it toggles on or off then you need a rotary switch. But that won't have the resistance of a potentiometer so it won't be able to adjust volume or voltage.
tyler_bishop said:
That doesn't really provide anything useful so I'm not sure why you posted it.
 
I think he is referring to a continuous rotary switch. Pioneer and Sony like to use them for Volume controls. This one from Farnell is probably the closest. It's not exactly what he describes , but is what is used. It doesn't close any contacts. It's an optical interrupter just like is used for the mouse wheel sensors. It sends a pulse to a circuit when it is rotated in either direction. That circuit reads if the pulse is positive or negative in most cases to determine direction and the number of pulses determines speed.

To my knowledge(admittedly limited), there are no continuos rotaries that use physical contacts. They are all based on optical interrupters. They act as a sensor for a switch circuit...not as a switch.
 
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