Illuminated Toggle Switch with Cover – Red Adafruit

Fire up your engines because these are the hot-rods of toggle switches! Equipped with an aerodynamic red protective casing, and a red LED at the tip of the switch, this Red LED Toggle Switch is sure to add some flair (and flare!) to your project.

Often seen on control panels, now you can mimic a racing car, fighter jet, submarine status panel, factory controls, or anything really. They will control virtually any accessory you can throw at them, with a rated voltage of 12V max, the LED lights up at 3V so you can use it with lower voltages too. They say “20 A” on the side but we recommend 1-2A max.

Since there’s an LED inside, but only 3 pin, they’re a little different to wire than most toggle switches.

• The anode (positive side) of the LED is connected through a resistor to the pin with a ‘headlamp’ (=D) symbol on it
• The cathode (negative side) of the LED is connected to the pin with the ground symbol, which is the pin that is sticking out the side of the switch.
• The switch connects and disconnects the (+) pin and the ‘headlamp’ pin

That means you have a few options for wiring:

• If you want to use the switch to turn on/off something, you can use the toggle to connect and disconnect the two pins on the bottom
• If you want the LED to always be on, provide 3-12V between the ground and headlamp pin
• If you want the LED to be on only when the switch is connected, provide 3-12V on the (+) pin and connect ground to the ground pin.

The protective cover will automatically turn the switch off when flipped closed, but you can simply remove it if it isn’t desired.