[Amps] rotary switch - shorting/non-shorting

[Tom Rauch]

>
> Aren't these switches known as "Make-Before-Break" and 
> "Break-Before-Make".


Yes, that's another name in technical descriptions. In 
catalogs and by manufacturers (at least on this side of the 
pond) they are more commonly called "shorting" and 
"non-shorting" rather than the "make before break".

For example Centralab uses "shorting" to describe a "make 
before break" contact. Non-shorting is used in their 
catalogs to describe "break before make".

Amp Supply was big on ordering the wrong switch. What they 
wanted was "pick up and hold" design but with "non-shorting" 
contacts. What they always seemed to order was a "shorting" 
switch.

You have to be very careful to look at what the manufacturer 
does, but in general (at least in the USA) the term 
"shorting" means make before break. That generally means the 
switch has much lower contact to contact voltage holdoff on 
adjacent contacts.

73 Tom