Carling Switches

PaulGooch

PaulGooch

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 Feb 2009
Messages
4,511
Location
Home = Norfolk, Boat = The Wash
www.boat-fishing.co.cc
My boat if fitted with Carling V series switches and contura II actuators (rockers). These are the rubbery feel switch tops with rows of raised dots and a square window with a legend to denote the purpose of the switch. I need to source a couple of these and am having a job to find them. ASAP stock an interchangeable switch top that has rows of bars, instead of the dots, but they don't have all the legends i need.

Anyone know of a supplier that keeps a decent range of the tops ?
 
Try...

Axon Components Ltd
Unit 5, Blackburn Ind Estate
Enterprise Way
Sherburn in Elmet
Leeds
LS25 6NF

Telephone: 01977 681781

Axon distribute Carling switches (the dash ones are the "Contura" series) as do RS components.
 
Just have a look at Carlings website bcz they do an enormous range with lots of similar switches, so just be sure they do actually match your current ones. Official carling switches with legends are a bit pricey I think, but Mudstuff do some adhesive stickers.
The contura ll have 4 terminals, and its not that simple to get the switch and lights to function ! If you have the ones that not only light up for night navigation, but also have a secondary light to show the switch is on, then + power in and + power out take two (and it matters which way those two are connected), one is an earth for the on circuit light that links internally inside the swiitch to the + out , and the last is the + from the nav lights. If you get any of these wrong, then you get all sorts of confusion as to no switch, no on light, on light on all the time etc etc ! Of course it is all very logical, and very easy to get baffled.
Lastly, the switches push up for on, which also isnt what you intuitively expect, but it is how they are actually mounted !
 
Thanks for the replies so far. I've got a copy of the Carling catalogue and everything i want is available, it's just finding someone who stocks them. My switches don't light up. I've looked at the Mud site but they don't have all of the ones i need. None for an extra bilge pump, for example. I only need three new switches, but as i can't find the rockers i need i've looked at the ones that ASAP stock. They have everything i need except one switch (screen demist), albeit in a different style, but as i only need to change the tops it's not costly. Currently my best option looks to change all the rockers to the Contura III style ones from ASAP and get one with no legend. A sheet of legends from Mud, which includes a screen demist.

I'll have a check with Axon first though.
 
gjgm said:
Just have a look at Carlings website bcz they do an enormous range with lots of similar switches, so just be sure they do actually match your current ones. Official carling switches with legends are a bit pricey I think, but Mudstuff do some adhesive stickers.
The contura ll have 4 terminals, and its not that simple to get the switch and lights to function ! If you have the ones that not only light up for night navigation, but also have a secondary light to show the switch is on, then + power in and + power out take two (and it matters which way those two are connected), one is an earth for the on circuit light that links internally inside the swiitch to the + out , and the last is the + from the nav lights. If you get any of these wrong, then you get all sorts of confusion as to no switch, no on light, on light on all the time etc etc ! Of course it is all very logical, and very easy to get baffled.
Lastly, the switches push up for on, which also isnt what you intuitively expect, but it is how they are actually mounted !
Click to expand...

Gigm that isn't correct. Everthing you say is possible, but not the only spec. They have up tp 10 terminals and are almost infinitely configurable. The upside down thing is cured by prising the actuator off and snapping it on the other way up

Props for paul is not many folks stock the weirder configurations. I'll post some more supier links. Exactly what do you want cos I have 100 os so due to min order qtys. I'd happily send to you foc

Rubber actuators are rare. I don't have any of those
 
jfm said:
Gigm that isn't correct. Everthing you say is possible, but not the only spec. They have up tp 10 terminals and are almost infinitely configurable. The upside down thing is cured by prising the actuator off and snapping it on the other way up

Props for paul is not many folks stock the weirder configurations. I'll post some more supier links. Exactly what do you want cos I have 100 os so due to min order qtys. I'd happily send to you foc

Rubber actuators are rare. I don't have any of those
Click to expand...

Switch wise i just need an on/off, mom on for horn and on/off/on for an auto bilge pump (auto/off/manual)

The actuators are the thing causing the problem. Mine are the rubber/soft touch type and all are none illuminated. They have the square window, but the illuminated bar at the bottom is not present. ASAP has all that i need, except the screen demist, in Contura III style (raised bars instead of dots).

All together i shall need :

Wipers x2
Washers
Water pump
Bilge pump
Bilge pump 2
Heater fan
Screen demist
Nav lights
Anchor light
Horn
Fish finder

I'll need to extend the mounts by two on each bank of switches. If i can find a full matching set i'd be happy to buy them and replace all that i have. Here's the current layout :
 
Last edited:
PaulGooch said:
Switch wise i just need an on/off, mom on for horn and on/off/on for an auto bilge pump (auto/off/manual)

The actuators are the thing causing the problem. Mine are the rubber/soft touch type and all are none illuminated. They have the square window, but the illuminated bar at the bottom is not present. ASAP has all that i need, except the screen demist, in Contura III style (raised bars instead of dots).

All together i shall need :

Wipers x2
Washers
Water pump
Bilge pump
Bilge pump 2
Heater fan
Screen demist
Nav lights
Anchor light
Horn
Fish finder

I'll need to extend the mounts by two on each bank of switches. If i can find a full matching set i'd be happy to buy them and replace all that i have. Here's the current layout :
Click to expand...

Ah. While I do have about 50 assorted contura 3 actuators (the lines not the dots) I don't have all those symbols

Here's an idea you may not like, feel free to say no. You could get everything in contura iii from asap, and I could mail you a plain black contura iii withe the wrods "screen demist" written

I have a machine that prints tiny white letters onto clear tape (one of those Brother machines). If you print, then cut the tape carefully as small as poss, then apply w tweezers, it looks ok. I can print it multiple times so you can experiment with font and layout.

I have done this on my auxilliary switch panels and it looks ok. I'll post a pic on tuesday when I'm back on the boat. Anyway pm an address and I'll post you the stickers. Worth a shot. Nothing lost if you don't like it. The gizmo also prints red or black onto clear tape, for the windows on contura ii actuators
 
jfm said:
Gigm that isn't correct. Everthing you say is possible, but not the only spec. They have up tp 10 terminals and are almost infinitely configurable. The upside down thing is cured by prising the actuator off and snapping it on the other way up

Props for paul is not many folks stock the weirder configurations. I'll post some more supier links. Exactly what do you want cos I have 100 os so due to min order qtys. I'd happily send to you foc

Rubber actuators are rare. I don't have any of those
Click to expand...


OK, well, as I said, he should have a look at their web page for a full explanantion, as there are a number of options. Whether he is looking for a ten terminal switch, I dont know. I was merely mentioning that a common configuration of on/-off and lights isnt such an obvious connection.
I didnt know you can reverse the toggle itself, but their own web page says these switches toggle up for ON. I didnt find any descriptin of how to reverse that, but it turned out my own installation was up/on anyway.

http://rocker-switches.carlingtech.com/sealed-rocker-switch__19.asp
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies. Just to clarify, what i was struggling to find were the tops to match my switches. Switches were easy enough to find. Mine are Contura II soft touch switches, non-illuminated. The have a square window at the top and no lighted line above the bottom rows of bumps. The MUD switches are slightly different, the are illuminated and have a line above the bottom row of bumps. ASAP have some Contura III tops, so i could swap all of my tops. Unfortunately they don't keep the screen demister top. I had planned to buy a full set off Contura III tops from ASAP, one of which would be without a legend. I would then buy a set of legends from MUD, just for the screen demister.

Many thanks to JFM for the kind offer of printing some text for the odd switch. I'd have proffered to keep them all with legends if possible. One with text might have looked a tad odd, but would look ok as a set.

Thanks to Pete for mentioning RS and Axon. I'd previously looked at both these sites, RS don't offer anything that would help me and the Axon website is "a work in progress", any pages that should detail the Carling stuff they do are blank, so i'd dismissed them.

I was all set to place the order with ASAP today when i thought i'd better just check with Axon on the phone (funny how we seem to be reluctant to use the phone in the day of the internet). Their website is a bit pants and they don't seem terribly well organised for small sales. But, the good news is that they were very helpful and they keep the switches. I told them what i wanted and a nice lady phoned back later in the day to say "we have the switch tops you need and we can print them with the legends you asked for". Just waiting for them to email me an invoice now.

I'll post back in a few days when i have them. Again, thanks to all that replied.
 
Just bringing this back to top as I was in PM corresp with someone about it just now. The pics below show, for anyone interested, how the carling switches look just with labels printed by a Brother printer on white-on-clear tape. Imho they are possibly not good enough for a main dashboard, but ok for a technical switch panel that is auxilliary to the main dash, like pics below. Anyway, this is just FYI, for anyone interested.

IMG_0851.jpg

IMG_0854.jpg
 
Together they look ok, thanks for posting the pics.

I had been meaning to update this thread, in case anyone was interested. Axon were very helpful and had some stock of the Carling Contura I and II switch tops in stock. Unfortunately they didn't have the legends i wanted to complete my set of Contura I switches. They would have sent some to the company that do their screen printing, but at £15 each for the printing i decided it was too expensive an option.

They had a better selection of the Contura II switch tops, already printed and had all of the legends i needed, so i replaced all of my tops, only a dozen so no big deal.

As i said earlier, not really set up for small orders, they are more geared toward supplying switches and panels etc to bigger companies. I believe they supply Sunseeker, amongst others. A thoroughly pleasant and very helpful company to deal with.
 
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