Hi YouTube, my name’s Geoff and I’m the VegOilGuy.
I received a video request this week from one of my subscribers.
He’d been watching my Electric Foundry build and noticed the green switch on the control
panel.
He asked if the switch had been bought from Amazon and if so, how if it wired up properly.
Well, I did buy it from Amazon but in truth I didn’t wire it up properly, though we’ll
come to that in a moment, but I’m certainly happy to have a go at demonstrating how it
should be done.
It’s a 4 Pole Illuminated Rocker switch handling AC voltage of 125 or 250 volts, so
clearly intended for mains use – and that means we need to be a little careful.
Four Poles means four terminals - these metal lugs sticking up here - and that’s the cause
of the confusion.
Certainly there were no wiring instructions with my purchase and I’m guessing it was
the same for my subscriber.
Keeping things nice and simple for a moment, a switch is just a controllable break in a
circuit.
Electrical current likes to flow around and around, like runners around a track.
To stop the flow, we need to break the track.
To get things started again we need to bridge that break
When the bridge is open, no current can flow.
But when the bridge or switch is closed, current can flow.
It’s easy to visualise two of these Poles as being the bridge supports, but what are
the other two poles for and which pole is which?
Well this switch is illuminated.
It has an internal light, probably an LED, that comes on when the switch is closed – but
only if the switch is wired properly.
So the switch needs two poles for the electrical current to come in and go out of, and the
LED needs two poles, to provide it with electricity.
I’m going to have a go at wiring one for you now… but safety first – make sure
nothing is plugged in.
The mains needs to be disconnected during the wiring up stage.
Notice how the poles are offset… this is to show correct orientation – which way
is up or down.
I believe convention has it that the gap is the bottom so this is the correct way to hold
the switch.
The poles are paired vertically.
The right side poles control the load – the electrical device that’s being switched.
The left side poles are for the LED.
Starting with the mains supply, the positive goes to the top right and the negative goes
to the top left.
Now we take the LOAD wires, in this case an old table lamp, and attach these.
The positive goes to the bottom right and the negative goes to the bottom left.
And that’s it.
So let’s just look at what’s been done…
the Load gets its mains positive on the top right – the switched side.
The power goes through the switch, out the bottom right pole, through the Load device
and into to the bottom left pole.
Then it passes through the LED exiting from the top left pole which is connected to the
Negative mains.
With everything wired, I’ve turned on the mains supply and it’s time to test the switch.
I’m being very careful not to touch these poles with my bare hands as this is live mains
power now.
And with a click –the switch is illuminated and the powered device is on.
Click again – and everything goes off.
So there you go guys, how to wire a 4 pole illuminated switch.
But hang on…
I said I didn’t wire mine up properly when I used it on my Electric Foundry control panel.
Well no I didn’t.
I used my switch to interrupt the 12 volts supply to the Solid State Relay and frankly
I couldn’t be bothered to connect the LED.
I just wanted a switch so I just used the two right poles.
So that’s about it for this subscriber requested video.
If you have something you want me to try and help with, please contact me.
I genuinely do try my best.
If it’s possible, I will do it, but somethings are a little beyond me.
For instance, one subscriber asked if I’d buy a used car every few weeks, convert it
to run on veg oil like my own vehicle and explain the process.
Now whilst I’d love to do something like that, it’s just way beyond my means.
Some YouTubers may be able to afford to do that, but I’m sorry to say I can’t – plus
I’ve never claimed to be a mechanic.
So that time I had to say sorry but no, but do feel free to pitch your ideas and questions
at me.
And I think we can call that a finished video.
I hope you enjoyed this one guys and if you did, please like it.
Please subscribe if you haven’t already done so and look out for my other videos on
my YouTube channel.
So that’s it for now guys.
Thanks for watching.