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Friday, September 16, 2011

GyLL Concepts Mini SW, inter NG and NG dual

I finally found the time to "play" with the Gyll Concepts electronic switches: the Mini SW, the Inter NG and the Switch Dual. Electronic switches are devices that can stop or start an electric current as a result of the absence (or presence) of a control signal.


Why an electronic switch ?

The main reason is that they are contactless in the sense there is no mechanical switch involved so no mechanical point of failure between the power source and the device to power. Electronic switches are known to be reliable.

Gyll concepts electronic switches bring an innovative architecture where the control element, which can be an lever a slider or a magnetic switch is not on the critical path of the switch. This means that in case of failure it has no impact on the electronic switch itself. In other words this gives an even more reliable switch.

They are all passing 3A and between 10 to 15A in peak. Quality is very nice with all SMS components, nice blobs of solder. Switches arrive with a universal 3 pins connector (JR/Graupner) with 0,34mm2 Silicon wires (0,25mm2 PVC wires on the mini SW) on the receiver side. On the battery side, no connector is provided, letting the user to solder his preferred connectors.

By default GC switch comes with a jumper, the control element has to be purchased apart.

When the jumper is connected between the central pin and the pin with a brown mark the switch is OFF. When no jumper is present, the switch is ON. To avoid losing the jumper, you just connect it between the central pin and the one with the orange mark.

For the control element, depending of the application, you can choose between a lever, a slider, a magnetic switch (note: Mini SW doesn’t support the magnetic switch). Nothing prevent you to build your own control element, so why not imagine a switch using a jack (unplugged = ON, and plugged = OFF) for example.

The “Mini SW” with its small size and weight is suitable for small to medium planes, where the place is counted. There is no particular recommendation from the manufacturer excepted to let some space around the switch to ease the cooling of the device.
The Mini SW passes 3A, and works between 4 and 14 Volts, which cover the use of both NiMh/NiCd or LiPo batteries(2, 3 cells). However, I contacted the manufacturer to ask about the behaviour of the switch under 4V, thinking a use with only one LiPo cell: In fact 4V correspond to the 3A current passing, The switches can go down to 2.5V and will stop working from this value and under. From 4V to 2.5V, the switches will work perfectly, but with a downgraded max current. So using the miniSW in a HLG with only one LiPo Cell is possible without any problem.

Just remember that These switches are not voltage regulator, so don’t expect to drop the voltage by using them. Also never charge the battery through the switch, which would damage the switch as they are not design for that.

The switch NG is a little bit bigger, allows the use of the magnetic switch and offers a lower leakage current. The leakage current is the current taken from the battery when the switch is off. For this reason, when the model is not used for a long time it is greatly recommended to disconnect the electronic switch from the battery to not run to a flat battery.

The Switch NG dual add the support of 2 batteries and double connection to the receiver which give even more reliability. It also offer a plug for voltmeter for each battery.

Both the inter NG and the NG dual have a flashing LED to indicate the switch ON and OFF transitions, and also a low voltage alarm. When you switch ON, the LED flashes quickly during 5 seconds, then produce a flash every 7 seconds. When switching OFF, the LED flashes quickly again to indicate the status change.

The first video is about the Inter NG:









Switch specifications:


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