-------------------- Tech Support Tips/Troubleshooting/Common Issues --------------------

Pinout

The pushbuttons (like the momentary https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11966 or latching https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11971 ) have an indication of the pinout of the buttons on the side of the plastic molding. One way to test the switch is to use a multimeter turned to the continuity setting. Here are what the pins (not in any particular order associated with the pushbutton's spades):

+ = LED Anode
- = LED Cathode
C = "Common Ground"
NC = Normally Closed
NO = Normally Open

One way to light the LED on the metal push button, you would need to wire it so that when you press down on the button, the led would light up. You would need 5V to light the LED ring. It can be lit up with a smaller voltage but the LED won't light up as bright.

To connect the battery to the button so that it only lights when the switch is pressed down (momentary or latched), you would connect 5V to the "+" pin on the switch. This is assuming that your system is using the same voltage source that is 5V. Then from the "+" pin, you would wire it to the normally open (NO) pin.

Another wire would be connected from the "-" pin to the C pin. The C pin would essentially be connected to your ground. So as you press down on the button, it would flip the switch and complete the circuit from the normally closed (NC) pin to normally open (NO) pin while lighting the LED ring at the same time. It might be a good idea to use a current limiting resistor (like standard 330Ohm resistor) if you are using 5V directly from your power supply. The LED won't be as bright but you also wouldn't be reducing the life of the LED. I am not sure of the electrical characteristics of the LED that is in the pushbutton.

Hey, i am new to this. can you tell me what latch everyone is talking about?

The features describe the operation as having two NO contacts and two NC contacts: 1NO1NC/2NO2NC. However, in the comments section of the momentary red switch, RobertC.'s description implies there is only one circuit when he says of the pins

three are for the switch and two are for the LED

which is what I would have assumed without any description. I know these things are really simple but a wiring diagram or just a better picture of the pins' labels would clear this up.

I had some drama wiring this switch, but finally managed to get it all working. In this example I have it connected to Arduino 5V An example if you want to control the LED and check switch state:

Connect positive terminal (+) to PIN 4 (OUPUT pin to switch the LED on/off). Connect negative terminal (-) to GND. Connect common (C) to 5V rail. Connect normally open to PIN 3 (INPUT for switch).

CODE: const int SWITCH_LED = 4; const int SWITCH = 3;

volatile boolean switch_state = LOW;

void setup() { pinMode(SWITCH_LED, OUTPUT); pinMode(SWITCH, INPUT); digitalWrite(SWITCH_LED, LOW); }

void loop() { if (digitalRead(SWITCH) == LOW) { digitalWrite(SWITCH_LED, LOW); } else { digitalWrite(SWITCH_LED, HIGH); } delay(10); }

Hope this is helpful: (1) the holes at the end of the terminals are very small. Its a 3A switch but even 22AWG hook-up wire won't fit w/out cutting a few strands (24AWG fit ok). (2) Led works directly from 24Vdc (has built in res). (3) As mentioned, center button is very small for a switch this size (to make room for the LED ring I suppose). Overall a high quality, good looking latching switch for the money if you don't have high current needs.

Does this have an internal pull-up resistor?

I just bought one of these, and I must admit I was disappointed for two reasons:

The part you press is smaller than all but my pinky finger, so pushing it in far enough to latch is difficult.

The circuit is completed BEFORE it passes the latching point, so if it fails to latch (most of the time, for me), then it acts like a momentary switch.

I was going to use this to turn on power to a device, but it is completely unacceptable for this purpose, sending brief pulses of power to my device when it fails to latch.

What is the difference between latching buttons and momentary buttons?

From the datasheet it appears as if you have a 3D Model of this switch ready to go but I was unable to find it on the GitHub repo of models. If possible I'd like to get access to the model for my project.