The DIP Switch Mod

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ph2t
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The DIP Switch Mod

Post by ph2t »

For ages I've been looking for a switch that is
small enough to be able to put on my little beasts
to be able to turn them ON and OFF.

I know that the car doesn't really NEED a switch,
but hey! that's never stopped me before. ;)

Basically the goal is to be able to take the
battery out of circuit and charge it without any
excess current drain from the PCB/lights.

Theoretically you should get a slightly increased
runtime from the extra charge the battery would
get but I believe this difference would only be small.
Another advantage is to be able to turn the car off
and pick up later with no issues of battery loss.

So here it is, my DIP Switch mod.

Find the right switch

Here's a DIP switch, not much to look at hey.

Image

This is obviously too big, but you can saw off
a single switch! I used a metal saw to do this
since the cutting blade is finer and causes less
damage to the surrounding area. If everything works
you should have some pieces like this.

Image

The flywheel helps give you an idea of the switch’s
size.

Where do I mount the bloody thing?

The best place I found was underneath the engine well.
This means the switch is out of sight, out of mind.
I've drilled two holes in the vertical part of the
chassis adjacent to the engine well. This is where
I'll feed to wires back to the battery.

Image

Here's a side view to help give you an idea of how
the switch is mounted. You can see from this side profile
that the clearance to the ground is juuuuuuuust fine, yeah!

Image

The little metal ends of the switch were cut back till only
2mm long. I then soldered some enamelled wire to the ends.
I use this wire 'cause it's flexible and small.

If you want to use normal insulated wire that's fine but find some
that is thin enough 'cause the wires could rub against the rear
axle causing all sorts of problems.


Here's two pictures showing the bugger all clearance between
the wire and rear axle.

Image

Image

Now feed the wires up and over one of the notches in the chassis
as shown below. These notches are on all classes of legit bits.

Image


Solder time!

Ok, first thing to do now is to remove the -VE/GND/NEGATIVE power
wire from the PCB and battery terminal.

Now solder one of the wires from the switch (doesn't matter which one)
to the battery terminal and the other wire to the -VE terminal on
the PCB.

Below you can see (barely!) where I soldered the wire from the DIP
switch.

Image

Once that is done put the car back together and all should be cool.

Image

Q.E.D


ph2t.
CaboWabo
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Post by CaboWabo »

yea boyee!
qed!
dude, I love those little micro switches, a must for any led setup!
got one on my bitPimps truck for the headlights, I can't say enough about it
Dear Life Cereal, Where do you get off? Part of a balanced breakfast and delicious? Who do you think you are? By now you may have guessed I'm speaking ironically and have nothing but good things to say about what you do. Life cereal do not change a thing.
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Yagbols
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Post by Yagbols »

You're the GURU of science mah man....what will you think of next? how about police lights? Flashing red and blue lights! :eek:
ph2t
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Post by ph2t »

Give me time homie, I quite like this mod 'cause it ain't rocket science and I reakon a lot of people should be able to do this.

ph2t.
sessiz
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Post by sessiz »

Nice ph2t, If I ever get a kitt light setup one of them switches might come in handy ;) :-)
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ph2t
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Location: taco city

Post by ph2t »

sessiz wrote:Nice ph2t, If I ever get a kitt light setup one of them switches might come in handy ;) :-)
You will get it mang, just having issues making some PCB's. I'll let you know..

ph2t.
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lefftoe
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Post by lefftoe »

thats sweet ph2t.....

ive been looking for micro switches for some time, never even thoght of using a dipswitch
dabigpig
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Post by dabigpig »

hot damn u can cut dip switches in peices w/o killing them sweet i never knew that. :-D so much for the ugly back window switches.
Image
if you post it... i've probably seen it...
-^-_-^
ph2t
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Post by ph2t »

yeah, I like it being out of sight....

ph2t.
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bdebde
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Post by bdebde »

I have found a few other sources for small switches. The first one is from a Novak speed control (burnt up one) for 1/10 th R/C's. The second, and probably a little more close at hand for most here, is the on/off switch off the circuit board of a microsizer controller. These are both dual cell Zip Zaps

Image

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noxorc
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Post by noxorc »

Nice job P.

can I get one added to my wife?
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