Switch Wiring

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

I feel really dumb, but could someone tell me the correct wiring for this switch?

View attachment 26536125

It's a SPST switch, 3 pins because it's got an indicator light in it.

I know the 3rd pin is ground. I want to assume the "+" is constant 12V, and the "A" is the accessory, whatever I want to turn on and off with the switch. But I don't know for sure. Is there someone that does?

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[maylar 10+ year member]

I'm guessing that you be correct. If you have an ohmmeter or continuity chacker, the + and "A" terminals should be connected when the switch is on.

 

[JoeK 10+ year member]

12V in, 12V out, ground; doesnt matter which is which as long as your ground is in the ground one

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

Nice, thanks. I did test it and both 12V have continuity to ground in on or off position, and the switch controls continuity between the two 12V positives. No continuity in off position, continuity in on position. Kinda makes me wonder if it will constantly be drawing power. Draw would be super low and I'm running it off a relay, so it doesn't matter in my case anyway, but I still wonder about that.

 

[budgetkiller 10+ year member]

I found that a great way to figure out which pin is which is simply to play around with a 9 volt battery on it. Connect the ground to the 9v ground, wire one of the positives (whichever you believe to be the output, although I think a post above said it might not matter) to the 9v ground, turn the swtich on, and touch the last terminal with the 9v positive. If the light lights up, well, no you know. If it doesn't maybe your switch isn't on and if that's not the case try another combination. Alligator clips help with this when you run out of fingers to hold wires with. Hope this helps.