Looking for a 3PDT on/on/on toggle. Any sources?

[skiraly017]

Checked Mouser but no go. Any ideas? Thanks.

[ulysses]

wouldnt a 3pdt be on/on? do you mean 3p3t?

cheers
ulysses

[skiraly017]

You're probably right. I need to switch between three caps and a rotary switch is too big for the application.

[johngreene]

You're probably right. I need to switch between three caps and a rotary switch is too big for the application.

Then don't you only need a SPDT that is on-off-on? You have your lowest value cap always selected (center position) and then just add two different values to it to give you 3 different cap values.

--john

[Snuffy]

What does the on/off stuff mean/reference?

[nephsuperman]

Is this what you are meaning?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/DiMarzio-Three-Position-OnOnOn-DPDT-Mini-Switch?sku=424668

[vanessa]

I got a few on/on's off of eBay. They are the little blue kind. I've not seen on/on/on in a 3PDT

[ulysses]

that dimarzio would be no good becasue its only good for two caps seperatly unless you are doubling up the caps.. not to get into semantics , but doesnt DT mean "dual throw". i fail to see how an on/on/on switch could be described as dual throw. wouldnt it be triple throw?

i think what you need is a sp3t switch. you should be able to get a small one somewhere.

EDIT: what about a slide switch like the sansamp gt2 brand?
what? http://www.tech21nyc.com/gt2.html
where? http://www.mouser.com/catalog/621/1542.pdf

cheers
ulysses

[sfr]

I got some triple-pole and quad-pole switches, both the "on-on" type and the "on-off-on" type from Hongkongsuperseller on eBay.  They've worked great for me the few places I've used 'em, and they aren't much bigger than the mini DPDT.   Takes a bit of time to ship from Hong Kong, but otherwise works real well.  Should find some in his eBay store.

As far as the questions people have over number of throws - some switches (on-off-on) have a middle position where the poles are not connected to *anything*, in addition to the two standard positions where the poles connect to either set of lugs.   I believe some (on-on-on) have a middle position where the poles connect to the lugs on *both* sides.  A normal switch with just two positions, where the poles connect to either side would be "on-on".  In any case, even though you have three positions, you don't really have a third "throw" - there's not an extra set of lugs that the poles connect to in the third position - and as such, even though these switches have three positions, I've only heard them referred to as "DPDT on-off-on" or something like that.  Doesn't seem to make the best of sense at first, but makes better sense than getting a "DP3T" switch and finding out you can't really send your signal three different places.

[Mark Hammer]

There are two types of 2PDT on-on-on switches, so be careful what you order.

Let's call the lugs for one set of contacts 1, 2, 3, and the other 4, 5, 6, with 2 and 5 being the commons.  There is one type of 3-position toggle that gets you 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, and 5-6 in the middle position, and another that gets you 1-2, and 5-6 in the middle position, but NOT 2-3 or 4-5.  I'm not sure what the technical term is for the one type vs the other, but just be careful you get the one you want/need.

Lord only knows what the options might be for a 3PDT toggle.  You may well be better off with a slide switch.  I picked up some lovely 4P3T slide switches years ago that are remarkably flexible for switching a whole mess of things.

[skiraly017]

I think I can come close to resolving my problem with a normal switch by calculating for caps in series (or is it parallel?). If I need the following values available to me 2.2uF, 4.7uF and 10uF, I can use...

2.2uF in the up position = 4.4uF
2.2uF in the middle position = 2.2uf
10uF in the down position = 12.2uF

Ultimately I'd like it to be up=2.2, middle=4.4 and down=12.2 and I can probably get it that way, I just need to think it through.

[johngreene]

A normal switch with just two positions, where the poles connect to either side would be "on-on". 

The 'normal' switch with just two positions will be specified as on-none-on.

--john

[Dirk_Hendrik]

Considering the construction of these switches (take an old spdt, open it up, and you'll see what I mean) internally I seriously wonder if what you're looking for even exists. The normal 3 position switches are usually
1) side to center contact:
  _
0 0 0
2, middle)  center contact isolated:
   _
0 0 0
3) center to other side:
    _
0 0 0
These come on mutiple pole types as well but that means there's just multiple sections diong the behaviour as described above. I think that in the end you will have to resort to slide switches.

nevertheless,
If you find what you're looking for let me know. I definitely have applications and are seriously interested in how they solved the puzzle inside the switch