Tact Switches or Original Buttons?

[nevermind1534]

It's $10 shipped on ebay for 50 of the mushy, godlike tacts. I love them. I can't believe that I almost used regular clicky tacts.

Link?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0345535055
even though you thought I was lying, and you could catch me, I wasn't. I find it highly annoying having a person following my every move, trying to find every little thing wrong with anything I do. So, I'm asking nicely, I don't want to start any fights, especially with a mod, because you piss off the administration, your screwed. I'm asking you to please stop.

That's what you seem to do to everybody else. But you use PMs more.

[eurddrue]

You know? I'm gonna have to agree with you on that. But in my doing so through pm's doesn't openly flame or troll or anything against the rules. And it's not just one person.

@ LOB Seems like something like this has happened a couple times before, and I just jumped to a conclusion...

[MacGyver1138]

Just to let everyone know, I bought some of the switches from that ebay link. Unless I'm mistaken, I can't get a single one to work. When I put my multimeter leads on opposite corners, then depress the switch, I'm not getting a completed circuit. I even took one of the switches apart, and they seem designed correctly, but the conductive bit on the rubber doesn't seem to be conducting.

[Life of Brian]

Have you tried two horizontal leads instead of diagonal? Mine should be coming in the next few days so I'll see what's up.

[MacGyver1138]

Yeah, I tried that. Each side is a single contact as with the clicky tacts I have. I know this is a crude illustration, but it looks kind of like: } { The rubber should make contact between those leads when the switch is depressed. They are designed exactly as I expected, but for some reason the conductive portion of the rubber doesn't seem conductive. I even put the multimeter leads directly on the conductive rubber and didn't get a circuit.

When I get home tonight, I'm going to try rigging some batteries to an LED with one of the switches in between to see if I can get that to work.

[Life of Brian]

If I'm not mistaken, the rubber itself is not supposed to be conductive. It's just over a metal contact that makes the connection when depressed.

[MacGyver1138]

That may be what I mean. It looks like the material used for computer keyboards, where there is a bit of black material attached to the rubber that I assume is supposed to be conductive. It may be metal, though I always thought something was added to the rubber to make is conductive. I could easily be wrong.

Either way, I should be getting my multimeter to report a short if I depress the switch with the leads attached to the correct posts on the switch, right?

[Life of Brian]

My switches came in the mail today, and guess what? I have the exact same problem you do. You are correct about the black material which is supposed to be conductive, except it isn't being conductive at all. I just spent $10 on 50 useless switches. I'm going to contact the eBay seller.

Similar switches I have bought before from Digi-Key actually had a piece of metal under the rubber dome which made contact when pressed. Looks like I'll have to pay more for something that actually works.

[MacGyver1138]

That's what I was afraid of. I would definitely recommend that everyone stay away from that ebay seller from the earlier link.

I guess I'll have to spend more to get some from an electronics site.

I have contacted the seller, but they haven't responded yet.

[MacGyver1138]

Here's something odd: I still can't get my multimeter to tell me the circuit is complete, but when I made a simple circuit with an LED, batteries, and one of these switches, it works. The only thing I can figure is that the black material is somehow only conductive when some voltage is applied.

Life of Brian, if you get time to do a similar experiment, let me know if you get the same results.


*Edit* Sorry for the double-post...

[themadhacker]

s,hit. now you guys tell me.
mine just came yesterday.

I'll see if I can get them to work.

[MacGyver1138]

I would suggest testing them by making a circuit that has a little juice running through it, rather than using a multimeter. Mine worked when I tried that.

[ShockSlayer]

So does anyone have a replacement link?

SS

[Life of Brian]

So does anyone have a replacement link?

SS

Yuppers. Here's a Digi-Key link.

[ShockSlayer]

Awesome, thanks!

SS