Ask Electronics

3871 readers

44 users here now

For questions about component-level electronic circuits, tools and equipment.

Rules

1: Be nice.

2: Be on-topic (eg: Electronic, not electrical).

3: No commercial stuff, buying, selling or valuations.

4: Be safe.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

DavideAndrea@discuss.tchncs.de

linker3000@discuss.tchncs.de

self actuating toggle switch? (midwest.social)

submitted 9 months ago by socphoenix@midwest.social to c/askelectronics@discuss.tchncs.de

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have a pet project I've been working on to modernize an electric organ console, and one of the final things needed are toggle switches. On a modern organ these are able to be manually toggled, or they can be flipped up/down programmatically using electromagnets (video). The ones purpose built for this are obscenely expensive but I can't find anything even remotely similar. Am I crazy for thinking this kind of switch are used in more things than just organs?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I just had another thought on this. A servo isn't just a rotational actuator like a motor. It is also an encoder (Potentiometer). It knows what position it is in, and can be back-driven into a different position. You can use a servo as both the physical toggle and as the actuator to flip that physical toggle.

https://learn.adafruit.com/analog-feedback-servos/servos-as-input-devices

You can modify regular servos to break out the wiper; you don't need to purchase a special feedback servo.

[–] socphoenix@midwest.social 1 points 8 months ago

This might work with the original parts which would be shockingly nice, I have a few cheap Amazon servos on order to see if they might work