TOPIC: Momentary Switch or On/Off Switch?

Sabers from SaberForge/SaberParts: Do they come with Momentary Switches or On And Off Switches? I don't remember what the On And Off Switches are called, but I'm assuming if you know what you're talking about then you know what I mean. Thanks!

Hi Potentium,

The "on or off" clicking type switch is called a "Latching Switch" this type can be pressed and the button stays in the on position until you press it again to release it to the off position, a normal switch.

Momentary Switches can be pressed then released but it springs back into it's original position so it can be tapped to activate other functions such as the Blaster Bolt sound effect. To switch a Saber off with a Momentary Switch usually requires you to press and hold the button down for a couple of seconds.

Hope this helps,

For Tyeth

Edit: The Momentary switch is on the Champion and Hero Tier sabers as these have the sound effects ect.
The Latching Switch is on Warrior Tier sabers with just light.

"NO! THAT'S NOT TRUE! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" xD Thanks For Tyeth. I really want a Latching Switch for Champion Disciple, do you know if they can take a Special Order? The one I want already costs $304, do you think it costs more? I'm going to e-mail customer service if I can find an address.

Hi Potentium,

Can I ask why you want a Latching Switch as I have a Champion Tier Disciple, and you need the Momentary Switch to activate the sound effect on the saber? Also can you give details as to what you are thinking of purchasing so I can help you better?

For Tyeth

Whoops I'm a little late here, sorry caught up with school midterms homework etc. anyway:

I was not aware that latching switches did not work with sound, and I was also under the impression that you had to hold the momentary switches in order to keep the lightsaber ignited. I was thinking of buying a Disciple/Champion/Standard/Black Leather/Covertech/Yellow/12W/No Quick Connects/32"/Viridium but now I want the Oracle since it is SO MUCH COOLER but then I realized I wanted to be unique so now I finally decided on an ASP saber, http://www.saberparts.com/#/configure?code=4.136.4.0-3.88.4.27-2.60.4.0-1.43.4.0-7.152.16.0-6.149.4.0-5.143.0.0-8.154.0.0

You do not need to hold the button in. That would be quite impractical. A momentary switch sends a signal to the board to activate and stays on. Pressing and holding again sends another signal to shut it off. Different durations of the held signal do different things. As has been said, a quick press will trigger the blaster deflect sound.

For Tyeth,
sometimes they use the main switch for on/off and a second switch for Auxsirary * blaster block or lock up. For the case of a latching switch as main, you need a momentary Aux.
If Potentium contacts and requests one I'm sure they will oblige.


E

I still don't really see the point in going through all that work for a latching switch. So you press it once, it stays in and turns on. Then you have to press it again to de-latch it, and press AGAIN to turn it off, and press AGAIN to de-latch. It's just extra steps. Is there a point? Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you get a latching switch and a momentary aux doesn't that mean that you can't hold the button in to send the shut off signal? Or the turn on signal for that matter? I guess having two buttons would solve this issue.

The main difference between the two switches is the mechanism they use to light the blade. Imagine one of those big throw switches in button form. That's a latching switch; you throw it to allow the electrical contacts to touch and power to flow, then throw it the other way to cut the power and turn it off. In button form, the contacts are not touching unless the button is pressed down, where it latches kinda like the end of a push pen. Then you press it again the contact pops out again and cuts power to the saber. To wire this up, it needs to be placed in series with the battery contact.

For the momentary switch, it's a bit different. They're designed to allow a signal to flow when pressed, but don't latch. If you wired it in a warrior saber, you would have a situation where you would have to hold down the button to keep it on. Luckily, these are wired up directly to the soundboard instead. Their job is to send a pulse, which the logic on the board interprets as a press or a hold. Then the board determines what to do based on its current state.

If you used a latching switch here any time the button is latched it would read as a constant pulse that the saber would interpret as a held button. For an effective 'press' you would need to quickly latch and delatch the switch.

Another thing to note is that, in a Champion or Hero tier saber, the board is always on unless the kill key is inserted. That's because the switches don't actually cut the power; when 'off' the board is actually just in a lower power mode with most of its outputs disabled. The kill key effectively separates the contacts directly to the battery, preventing the board from receiving power in the first place.

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation, Snakeeyz99...

Out of curiosity, how long does AV (momentary) switch normally last to stay functionally well??

I feel I will have a strong tendency to switch on, switch off, make blaster deflection sounds, etc everyday with my future lightsaber(s), simply because I like the way they sound

I haven't heard of any issues with buttons wearing out. I'd think that latching switches would wear out sooner than momentary, though, being that they actually have to physically latch, which could eventually erode. I'm sure both last quite a while, though. But I have no firsthand experience.....yet.

MusicallyInspired has it correct. The actual electrical-contacts part of a switch is pretty simple and generally will last a long time. If I were worried about anything, it would be the latching part of the latching switch, which does have parts that move and turn against each other in a way that they'll actually wear down.

Add on that most of the latching switches that I've seen are relatively cheap push-buttons, and that Saber Forge's momentary switches are anti-vandal switches (which are intentionally designed to be hard to break), and I'd have far more faith in SF's momentary switches than any latching ones.

For the record, I seem to recall that the Spark Color 2 board (used in the Hero tier sabers) is one of the few sound boards out there that can use a latching switch for its main power switch; however, you do lose lockup functionality with a latching switch, so that'd really only be worthwhile if you were using a slide switch or something like that.