I have picked up a number of rotary encoders for wiring up to my epic card. The 45 degree ones have a single pole in the center and then a number around the outside. With each click a circuit will appear from the center to one of the outer pins. Pretty straight forward. So, I now have the 30 degree type. They have 3 pins in the center and then 12 around the outside. This is where it is getting weird. It seems that all three pins in the center make a circuit to one of the outer pins at each stop. So I have the following:Lets call the pins in the center CP1, CP2 and CP3And the outer pins OPHere is the circuits at each of the 12 positions for the switch:Position CP1 CP2 CP31 OP1 OP5 OP92 OP2 OP6 OP103 OP3 OP7 OP114 OP4 OP8 OP125 OP1 OP5 OP96 OP2 OP6 OP107 OP3 OP7 OP118 OP4 OP8 OP129 OP1 OP5 OP910 OP2 OP6 OP1011 OP3 OP7 OP1112 OP4 OP8 OP12 So, the question, for anyone who has done this, is how do you wire this up so you end up with just 1 circuit per position? I feel like I am missing something simple here but as the switches do not come with circuit information I have no clue how to accomplish this? EPIC shows how rotaries have only 1 center pin and get 1 circuit per position? Thank you very much for any help--Russ

Russ,The "12-position" switch sounds like a 3-pole, 4-position rotary switch with the stops removed. I don't know of any way to use this switch as it is as a 12-position switch. Perhaps it could be disassembled and modified.Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.com

Russ:>>I have picked up a number of rotary encoders for wiring up to my epic card. The 45 degree ones have a single pole in the center and then a number around the outside. With each click a circuit will appear from the center to one of the outer pins. Pretty straight forward. So, I now have the 30 degree type. They have 3 pins in the center and then 12 around the outside. This is where it is getting weird. It seems that all three pins in the center make a circuit to one of the outer pins at each stop.Sorry, Russ, but what you've got aren't Rotary *Encoders* they're Rotary *Switches*. The ones with one centre pole and 'x' poles round the outside are single pole switches, the ones with three center poles are triple pole switches. Richard

Yes, 3 pole, 12 position rotary switches/selectors. I am attempting to wire them to EPIC and need to have at least 7 positions wired. Any ideas on how they could be wired to provide individual circuits for each position?Thanks, Russ

Well, I have figured it out. As it turns out you can pop these open (the selectors from FDS) and inside there are three little metal tabs. WARNING: There are two little BB sized balls that will fly throughout your house, your cats may even chase them. If you make sure that you you only remove the back. Keep pressure against the post so that it will not move towards the open back. Doing so is not that much fun. If it does (and you convince your cats to return your BB's. Then there is a little opening on one side that allows you to place the BB, spring and other BB in. Just use a little screwdriver to press down and pull on the shaft. Now given that you have found and restored the BB's (or having read this have yet to let them out). You can remove two of the three metal tabs from the back of the inner rotating piece. You can't miss them as there is not much in there. Regular pliers will do. Be careful to hold the rotor shaft HARD or your will have to chase more BB's. Also make sure that you leave the tab that aligns with the #1 pin on the rear of the unit. Turn all the way to the left and then match the back (note the back only goes on one way) and determine the correct fin to keep inside. Toss the other two and then close. If you are wiring 8 or less of these to EPIC you can just wire two of the three pins on the rear to a single lead and then place leads along the outside per normal instructions for wiring buttons.!!!

Mike thanks for the push. Opening was not that bad and after chasing the BB's a few times I was able to perform the operation nicely. I now have a working ND range selector (give or take a little EPIC programming..:)

>Mike thanks for the push. Opening was not that bad and after>chasing the BB's a few times I was able to perform the>operation nicely. I now have a working ND range selector>(give or take a little EPIC programming..:)>And as a side note, if you shorten the spring just a little bit, you can make the switch less "hard" to turn, although it takes a bit of trial and error to get it right - shorten too much and it becomes sloppy. But handy if you wire those as rotary encoders with FSBUS for example, since the 12-position switches tend to have rather heavy duty notches.Tuomas

Hi Tuomas...Happy New Year to you. You seem to know how to wire 12 position switches to FSBUS. I have tried to get my 12 position switches to work on my FSBUS I am stuck. Here is what I have done:1) I am using 12 pos rotary switches (not rotary encoders) for Com 1/2, Nav 1/2, ADF and ATC2) I have wired the switches just like the FSBUS manual tells you to with the jumpers3) I now have to set them up in the Router. I am using the latest Router from FSBUS site. I have read the English FSBUS manual over and over but can't seem to figure out how to program a 12 pos switch with RID's, SID's etc.Could you explain how to program the switch correcly ? Also any other tips for wiring the 12 pos switch to work would be helpfulMany thanks for your help...JB