Electric lift switch keeps failing

[RED-Z06 2,718]

My C100...i put on a new actuator and while im not in love with its speed, it works well, my switch however, failed a couple years ago, its a 6 wire switch that acts as a polarity reverser...im  guessing 2 hots, 2 grounds and 2 wires to the motor.  Ive had difficulty finding a 6 blade connector type momentary on/off/on switch...i can find numerous 4 wire type that appear to only use 1 hot, 1 ground, 2 motor wires.  Do yall think i could just use one of those and cap off the 2 unused wires?

[Handy Don 16,616]

Nope. You need to reverse both terminals to the motor.

Google for "dpdt momentary switch” there are lots to choose from for $10 and up--pick your favorite style!

 

Note: if there were a way to do this with a SPDT (without an auxiliary relay), the manufacturers woulda been all over it! 

Edited 13 hours ago by Handy Don

[ri702bill 12,110]

DO get a switch with an amperage rating more than adequate for the max current the actuator draws.....

[squonk 46,578]

Yup too much current for the switch to handle.

[RED-Z06 2,718]

2 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Nope. You need to reverse both terminals to the motor.

Google for "dpdt momentary switch” there are lots to choose from for $10 and up--pick your favorite style!

 

Note: if there were a way to do this with a SPDT (without an auxiliary relay), the manufacturers woulda been all over it! 

This setup has no relay, does that change anything? 

[Handy Don 16,616]

7 minutes ago, RED-Z06 said:

This setup has no relay, does that change anything? 

Alas, no. A momentary DPDT relay plus a momentary SPDT switch could replace the momentary DPDT toggle switch. But then you’d need two pieces instead of one with more wiring!

 

I only mentioned the relay because in some applications of linear actuators that use very high current, the relay can be sized “big” while the controlling SPDT switch can be sized smaller since it only operates the relay. Unless your actuator is using 50-ish apps at 12vdc, this isn’t a factor for you.

 

As @ri702bill noted, the amperage is important. I suspect your actuator will be in the range of 5-20 amps @12vdc. Lots of switches intended for electronics (as opposed to electricals) have much smaller amp ratings and while they might work initially, will burn out.  Here is a heavy duty 20 amp @ 125v item (which could reasonably carry 30 amps at 12 vdc) on the jungle site, for reference. Here is another with an IP67 rating (for moderate moisture and dust resistance). 

[c-series don 11,911]

After purchasing my 418-8 in Massachusetts I stopped in a Wheel Horse dealer in Connecticut to show him.I’ve bought some things from him before. Actually just stumbled across this dealer while on a trip to Vermont on a separate occasion. Anyway one of the first things he said to me was “You don’t want to know how much that switch for the electric lift costs!” Here is a picture of the dealership, not sure if any of you Connecticut guys might know of it? I can’t remember the name of it?