Hey guy's, Looking for input on this old magneto switch. Do you think these switches are momentary switches (i think their called) or on-off type. If there on-off (single pole?) do you think I could use them for simple chores like wipers auxilary lights ect. I may be out in left field here? Thanks allot!
Hook a multi meter up to them and see if they are on/off... if they are momentary they will click back to the original position if you turn them.
Sorry chaddi, should have mentioned i don't own it yet. Trying to figure it out before purchasing. Hopefully someone will chime in that knows if the switches will work "as is" for accessories. Thanks!
Oh gotcha... well from the wording on it I wouls suspect its a 3 way... or what they call a single pole, double throw? I think that's right... been a while since I worked at radio shack!!
cool switch! as Chaddilac said , the only way to know for sure is to spend a few minutes with an ohmmeter. looks to me it was for a 4 engine airplane , and it controls two magnetos on each engine for a total of eight.you can switch between the magnetos on each engine , both or off. that is needed during running up the engines before taking off to see if both are working. keep in mind that on aircraft the magnetos are switched off by grounding them...so when it's off the switch is closed. it probably works backwards from what you think. i'm sure with a little testing it could be used
this one? 380315205218 It looks like there are only 8 connections, and it would ground each one when that particular mag is switched off. So you could use it to switch ground for up to 8 different accessories...unfortunately most car stuff works by switching power on and off, not ground.
But you could wire a relay to each thing that needs to be switched.....then you can make it do whatever you want.
yes, i'm sure it's grounding through the body of the switch you could use it to turn something on by using relays
Yep, I believe squirrel and 36-3window are correct. Magnetos are grounded to shut them off, so what you have are four individual switches, each of which will put ground on one or the other terminal. ie. to run on one mag the opposite terminal ***ociated with each switch is grounded, and to run on both mags neither is grounded. Pulling on the "PULL OFF" switch in the center will ground all eight terminals. You could use it as is to honk the horn, but for most everything else you'll need to use relays as mentioned above. If you do choose to use relays in conjunction with this switch, pulling on that center knob could cause all hell to break loose........
You could also wire a hot to all the devices controlled by the sw. if it's a grounding sw. Then use the sw. in reverse as a ON sw. for each accessory, or an ALL ON sw. with the center pull.
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