Switch Life

Scorpion Technologies’ handles use snap action micro switches that offer the best available combination of reliability, long life and reasonable cost.

The switches have a rated mechanical life of over ten million cycles, but electrical life is dependant on a number of factors. The switch load (in Amps) and proper diode protection are the two biggest things that can affect switch life.

The graph shows the typical life of our switches, comparing switch load in Amps to the number of on/off cycles that can be expected. Switch life will be greatly reduced if suppression diodes are not used (See the section on surge suppression).

  • 500,000 Cycles (2 Amp Load)
  • 1,000,000 Cycles (1 Amp Load)
  • 2,500,000 Cycles (.5 Amp Load)
  • 6,000,000 Cycles (.25 Amp Load)

The load capacity of the switch depends on the type of load the switch is switching and the material used for the contacts. Standard Scorpion Technologies switches use silver contacts for maximum load carrying capacity and long switch life. If the switched load is less than 20 mA, better switch performance will be obtained using switches with gold contacts (consult factory).