802a AC interrupter switch

[zarathustra]

Does anyone have or know of a source for the AC interrupter switch? I thought it would be easy to find, but I was wrong.

Anyone have a 'work around' for that switch?

 

[m-35tom]

are you refering to S5? or K1?

 

[zarathustra]

That's S-5 all right.

I got a quote from Madonna somebody at a vendor -- I gave her the part number directly off of the switch.

Price quoted for ONE switch.... $498.00 EACH.

So, the extra 802a that I bought for parts just paid for itself 'cause it had a good S-5 in it!!!

I'm going to put together a list of parts to create a subsititute -- my estimated cost is around $20.00 which would be the cost of two momentary contact push switches; one normally open and one normally closed. Of course it wouldn't look the same, and require a person to drill one new hole in the face of the unit, but the alternative is the $498 model, however functionally it would work just fine.

 

[m-35tom]

I'm confused, I looked at mine and at the schematic, and it looks just like a double throw double pole center off switch. 2 and 5 are the throws and 1 and 3 plus 4 and 6 are the poles. I think the drawing is a little confusing.
Tom

 

[zarathustra]

This is no ordinary switch.

The common pins are pins 2 and 5.
Pins 1 and 4 are not used but have an odd configuration similar to pins 3 and 6.

Pins2 and 3 are normally connected, and when the switch is moved down that connection breaks.
Pins 5 and 6 are normally open and when the switch is moved up they are connected --

So, when the switch is moved up a ground is applied to pin Y of the contactor (K1) from pin 6 to pin 5. Once that happens pins 11 and 12 are connected on K1 which holds that relay closed. That ground is applied to pin Y from pin 12(k1),pin11(K1) through the short circuit/overload relay (K to pin 3(s5), pin 5(s5) on to pin Y of K1.

So, the switch has a center off, momentary contact to two other pins, one of which is normally closed and one of which is normally open. No manufacturer makes that switch for commercial use.

Hence, $498.00

 

[m-35tom]

interesting, you could make that switch, by hand, from scratch, for much less than that. So is one side of this switch NO and the other NC? I would think someone would make that. What about repairing the bad switch?

 

[zarathustra]

This switch works more like a latching relay than a switch.

If you look at the switch from the back with pin 1 being on the top left the connections inside the switch are mirror images of themselves.

So, 4 and 5 are normally closed, as are 2 and 3.
5 and 6 are normally open as are 1 and 2

You can think of it as several switches all in the same container. If the switch is pushed upwards, it changes the state of pins 4-5 and 5-6, but does not change the state of any of the pins 1,2,3.

If the switch is pushed downwards it changes the state of pins 1-2 and 2-3, but does not change the state of pins 4,5,6.

You can think of it as one toggle handle that controls one side of the switch when moving up and the other side when moving down.

Theoretically, since pins 1 and 4 are not used, it should be possible to install the switch 180 degrees out of normal, flip the diode 180 degrees, and use pins 1,2,4,5 to do the same electrical switching as it did originally. That could be a fix if the switch was not operating properly. I say theoretically 'cause it works on paper, but I haven't tried it. A lot would depend on how the switch failed internally.

The same thing could be done for around 20 dollars using two push button switches with one NC and the other NO. One would have to drill a second hole to accomodate the other push button switch. Those switches are at bulbamerica.com and the brand is Morris --7.95 each for NO and NC momentary contact switches.

That again, works on paper just fine, but I haven't tried it yet. The biggest problem I can see is the color of the switches. the NC is red and the NO is black. For the MEP solution the NO oughta be red and NC oughta be black. But if that is the only problem, it is only a tiny, tiny issue.

 

[zarathustra]

Interestingly, it is an EATON switch (p/n 8905K4519), but does not appear on their web site. In addition it is made overseas.