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Small, Momentary On, Pushbotton Source

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  • Member since
    July 2008
  • 76 posts
Small, Momentary On, Pushbotton Source
Posted by seaside on Monday, January 25, 2010 3:32 PM

I'm looking for a source for small, momentary on, pushbottons for panel control of my turnouts.  The small red and black ones from Radio Shack look good, but does anyone know of a source for green bottons?  I'd like to have a matched set.

 John

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
  • 13,757 posts
Posted by cacole on Monday, January 25, 2010 4:09 PM

Mouser Electronics in Mansfield, Texas, has SPST push button switches with WHITE, RED, GREEN, and BLACK buttons listed on Page 1613 of Catalog Number 640, stock numbers 104-0010-EVX (White); 103-1216-EVX (Green); 104-0012-EVX (Red); 104-0013-EVX (Black); 103-1218-EVX (Red); and 103-1219-EVX (Black). 

http://www.mouser.com/mountainswitch

They are the only ones who have anything other than red and black among the electronics mail-order sources whose catalogs I have on hand; i.e., All Electronics, Digikey, Jameco, and Mouser.

 

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • 76 posts
Posted by seaside on Monday, January 25, 2010 8:09 PM

Thank you!  I checked Radio Shack and Digikey without any luck.

I also learned how to spell button!

 

John

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: 200 feet from the Mackay Branch
  • 97 posts
Posted by larsend on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 1:50 AM

Try Demar Electronics:

 http://www.demarelectronics.com 

The price is right too!!

  • Member since
    November 2002
  • From: Colorado
  • 4,075 posts
Posted by fwright on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 11:28 AM

seaside

I'm looking for a source for small, momentary on, pushbottons for panel control of my turnouts.  The small red and black ones from Radio Shack look good, but does anyone know of a source for green bottons?  I'd like to have a matched set.

 John

Acme made (makes?) ganged red and green push button sets for either flush or surface mounting.  Acme made versions with 1-16 sets of push buttons in a panel.  They were a lot more compact than ganged Atlas switch machine controllers.  I've seen the Acme panels for sale on eBay, and they used to widely advertised in MR.  I don't know if they are still made.  They could be had in versions with or without indication lights.  The wiring instructions covered how to use the buttons in almost every conceivable situation, including diode matricies and stall motor switch machines.  I have used them - they are nicely made and fairly attractive.  But unless you cut the panels up, you can't easily mount them individually into a layout schematic. 

just a thought

Fred W

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • 76 posts
Posted by seaside on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 7:23 PM

The more I think about the appearance and function of my anticipated control panel, I might be better off with just plain old black buttons on each leg of the turnout diagram and an adjacent green LED.  Since only one LED would be lit at a time, the direction of travel would be clear.  If I have one green LED (with corresponding green button) and one red LED (with corresponding red button) for each turnout, it may look to the operator that the train will follow the "red path" sometimes and the "green path" other times, and sometimes a combination of red and green paths in, say, a yard ladder. Although it may not be prototypical, since green means "go," the train will follow the green path.

Thanks for all the input.

John

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 8:16 PM

 Or you could use green for normal and yellow for diverging, as was common on CTC panels. Red should be reserved to mean STOP. I used black buttons.

                             --Randy


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

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