Chris Green formulated on Sunday :
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Green brought next idea :

An architrave switch in a matching box is about the best I can manage
at the moment but they're far bigger than I really want.

A USA site, but it might give you some ideas...

https://www.e-switch.com/product-cat...t#.V93APq3sLIV

But this is where we came in, these are 'surface mount' in the sense
of SMD. You can't just stick them on a sheet of wood and use them,
they're not intended for 'visible, domestic' use.

What about these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Round-Blac...AOSwtnpXp7t K

A single round hole to drill and rated 240v 6amp.

I have around 24 of these in use in my caravan, as it came from the
manufacturer, switching DC 12v.

You can get the identical switch much cheaper direct from China as a
batch, I bought a batch of 12x for around £3 delivered.

On 18/09/16 11:58, Chris Green wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/09/16 09:45, Chris Green wrote:

I just don't like making things I can't take apart. :-)

NO children then?

Yes, but they're 37 and 39.

Have you taken them apart then?

If not, why did you make them?

--
You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a
kind word alone.

Al Capone

Capitol wrote:
Chris Green wrote:
Tricky wrote:

Why not simply use standard rocker or toggle switches mounted in a suitably
deep enclosure. As an alternative especially if you have several to make,
use cut up lengths of PVC trunking and fit end caps to make a complete
enclosure.


Because the result is too big. I can't find any enclosures which are
significantly smaller than a standard architrave switch (80mm high,
35mm wide, 20mm or so deep). I guess the trunking idea is possible
but it's hardly good to look at and this does have to look half
decent.

My current (no pun intended) solution is to use 'inline' switches, the
trouble is that there's no way to hold the top on if you screw the
bottom onto a surface (the screws go in from the back). I guess I
could glue the top on but that's a bit difficult to fix if anything
goes wrong.



Push switches as used in light fittings are very compact. They can
be screwed down.

? Can you find an example? The ones I know about are designed for
fitting through a hole.

--
Chris Green
·

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Green has brought this to us :
But this is where we came in, these are 'surface mount' in the sense
of SMD. You can't just stick them on a sheet of wood and use them,
they're not intended for 'visible, domestic' use.

I agree, but you could mount them in some sort of enclosure or even in
a suitable recess of your wood. Much better to my mind, than the
ancient clunky looking dolls house switches.

Very difficult to mount *in* an enclosure IMHO, and suitable
enclosures (as in small enough) are hard to come by.

--
Chris Green
·

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Green formulated on Sunday :
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Chris Green brought next idea :

An architrave switch in a matching box is about the best I can manage
at the moment but they're far bigger than I really want.

A USA site, but it might give you some ideas...

https://www.e-switch.com/product-cat...t#.V93APq3sLIV

But this is where we came in, these are 'surface mount' in the sense
of SMD. You can't just stick them on a sheet of wood and use them,
they're not intended for 'visible, domestic' use.

What about these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Round-Blac...AOSwtnpXp7t K


A single round hole to drill and rated 240v 6amp.

I have around 24 of these in use in my caravan, as it came from the
manufacturer, switching DC 12v.

You can get the identical switch much cheaper direct from China as a
batch, I bought a batch of 12x for around £3 delivered.

They're cheaper from CPC too. However (unless mounted in a block of
wood or something) they still can't be surface mounted, they need a
hole. If I make a hole the guts of the switch will be sticking out
of the other side of the 'wall', this is the basic problem with
anything that mounts in a hole.

--
Chris Green
·

Adrian Caspersz wrote:
On 17/09/16 15:15, Chris Green wrote:
I'm looking for some small switches that I can mount on a surface,
i.e. on flat walls (mostly wooden panels, possibly metal in a couple
of cases). They can't be mounted in a hole at all because the other
side of the same panel is also an 'outside' surface.

They don't need to be safe for mains, they are only switching 12 volts
at quite a low current (LED lighting, maximum an amp or so).

Can anyone suggest anything suitable? Part of the trouble is that
searching for 'surface mount[ing]' just produces an overwhelming
number of SMD components which doesn't help at all.

An architrave switch in a matching box is about the best I can manage
at the moment but they're far bigger than I really want.


Table lamp switches?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/INLINE-ROCK.../dp/B007K7TA66

These are what I'm using at the moment, the trouble is that there is
no way to fix them to a surface. If you screw the back/bottom to a
surface then there's no way to fix the top on as the screws go in from
the rear of the switch.

See discussion earlier about gluing these onto a surface though.

--
Chris Green
·

Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artÃ*culo , Chris Green
escribió:

I'm looking for some small switches that I can mount on a surface,

http://759dc06445cf18317940-e54b48b3...217.r7.cf2.rac
kcdn.com/app/img/asset/00/95/1-56f23d74966ed.jpg/w-804_h-784_q-80_c-
c/1-56f23d74966ed.jpg

or http://tinyurl.com/jy8vz8m

from http://hpm.com.au/products/switches-sockets

Shock horror, something tasteful from Australia.

You may be able to find a UK distie.

Amazing, just about exactly what I'm looking for, I see if I can make
some progress with those. Thank you.

--
Chris Green
·

On Sunday, 18 September 2016 16:48:10 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
These are what I'm using at the moment, the trouble is that there is
no way to fix them to a surface. If you screw the back/bottom to a
surface then there's no way to fix the top on as the screws go in from
the rear of the switch.

I've seen some where the case fixing screws go in sideways. eg

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291610938092
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361266019922

Of course what you really want is the small rectangular brown bakelite surface switches I got from J Bull Electrical in 1980-something but I don't think they had a brand name on, and I don't have any to hand to look at anyway.

Owain

On Saturday, 17 September 2016 15:16:05 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
They don't need to be safe for mains, they are only switching 12 volts
at quite a low current (LED lighting, maximum an amp or so).

There's this sort of thing
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182252301301

Owain

wrote:
On Saturday, 17 September 2016 15:16:05 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
They don't need to be safe for mains, they are only switching 12 volts
at quite a low current (LED lighting, maximum an amp or so).

There's this sort of thing
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182252301301

Wow, I could have flashing cabin lights! :-)

--
Chris Green
·

On 18/09/2016 09:47, Chris Green wrote:

Make sure the supply is an isolating one or you may have mains potential
on the 12V output and you will need better switches.

The supply is a 12 volt battery, this is on a boat.


No mains on the charger?

Switch...?

https://www.solidrop.net/product/roc...e-mounted.html

dennis@home wrote:
On 18/09/2016 09:47, Chris Green wrote:

Make sure the supply is an isolating one or you may have mains potential
on the 12V output and you will need better switches.

The supply is a 12 volt battery, this is on a boat.


No mains on the charger?

Solar panels.

Though there is mains on the boat sometimes of course and there's an
inverter for running a domestic fridge etc.


Switch...?

https://www.solidrop.net/product/roc...e-mounted.html

Ah, I use AliExpress quite a lot, they look good, thank you.

--
Chris Green
·

Chris Green wrote:
Harry wrote:

Chris Green formulated on Sunday :

Harry wrote:

Chris Green brought next idea :


An architrave switch in a matching box is about the best I can manage
at the moment but they're far bigger than I really want.

A USA site, but it might give you some ideas...

https://www.e-switch.com/product-cat...t#.V93APq3sLIV

But this is where we came in, these are 'surface mount' in the sense
of SMD. You can't just stick them on a sheet of wood and use them,
they're not intended for 'visible, domestic' use.

What about these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Round-Blac...AOSwtnpXp7t K


A single round hole to drill and rated 240v 6amp.

I have around 24 of these in use in my caravan, as it came from the
manufacturer, switching DC 12v.

You can get the identical switch much cheaper direct from China as a
batch, I bought a batch of 12x for around £3 delivered.

They're cheaper from CPC too. However (unless mounted in a block of
wood or something) they still can't be surface mounted, they need a
hole. If I make a hole the guts of the switch will be sticking out
of the other side of the 'wall', this is the basic problem with
anything that mounts in a hole.


I think you can buy those from Maplin. I used one recently.

On Sunday, 18 September 2016 22:16:04 UTC+1, Chris Green wrote:
There's this sort of thing
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182252301301
Wow, I could have flashing cabin lights! :-)

Party time!

Owain

On 18/09/16 16:39, Chris Green wrote:

Table lamp switches?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/INLINE-ROCK.../dp/B007K7TA66

These are what I'm using at the moment, the trouble is that there is
no way to fix them to a surface. If you screw the back/bottom to a
surface then there's no way to fix the top on as the screws go in from
the rear of the switch.

Glue the top on?

See discussion earlier about gluing these onto a surface though.


OK, given that this is all safe low voltage - how about making
unobtrusive touch switches?

http://www.electroschematics.com/599...itch-circuits/

A 555 should do it.

--
Adrian C

Chris Green wrote:
Amazing, just about exactly what I'm looking for, I see if I can make
some progress with those. Thank you.

One thing I don't see on those is any size information. It's possible
they're actually the size of a UK light switch (which is about 85x85mm).

Ah, here we a
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HPM-SURFA...-/161948604880

That looks chunky but not as bad as a single UK pattress. Though it's a bit
of a guess at the scale.

Postage from .au is likely be a killer, though

Theo