3423 RGB pushbutton showing RED only

[jjwallace]

I purchased 3423 "Rugged Metal Pushbutton - 22mm 6V RGB Momentary" on 5/27/2021, and received the item today, 6/1/2021. I attached wires to the R, G, B, and C (cathode) (with low wattage soldering iron) and tested on protoboard with 5VDC supply. The red ring works wonderfully. The green and blue are dead. If I parallel the other two with the red, the red stays lit with no indication of loading and the color stays pure red. I confirmed voltage on the pins.

I sent an email to support and they advised me to post here.

Regards, John

[dastels]

Can you explain how you have the LEDs wired? I'm not sure how you're getting the red LED to light.

Note that the pin is labelled "C+" and not "C". https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/product-f ... -12V-S.pdf

It's a common anode, not a common cathode.

And on the product page:

On the back there are 4 metal contacts for the RGB LED ring (one anode and 3 cathodes for each red, green, and blue) and 4 spade contacts for the switches.

To use the RGB LED: Power the anode at 3-6V and light up the red, green, and blue LEDs by pulling their designated contacts to ground as you desire – there's a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 1K ohm resistor in series with the LED cathodes to keep the LED current at around 20mA. You can PWM the RGB pins to make any color you like.

Dave

[jjwallace]

Dave,
Thank you so much for the rapid response. First, let me draw your attention to the pinout from the 3423 document captured in attached clip "3423pinout". Note that the Common (C+) in on the side with the "2" pin, and that Red (R) is on the side with the "1" pin. Further, C+ and is across from G; and R is across from B. If you then look at my second clip, "3423wiring", you will see my wiring aligns the colors with the wire colors, using White(W) for the C+. All should be good.

However, you were correct, I was treating C+ as a common ground. When I hooked up my W wire to GND, and my R wire to +5, the red ring does indeed light, but neither G nor B respond. The only explanation is that the C+ and R connections are reversed ON THE SWITCH. If I test using my R wire as C+ (connected to +5), then the W wire to GND will show red; the G wire to GND will show green; and the B wire to GND will show blue.

I have looked, looked, and looked again at the switch, my image, and the document and I cannot see how my wiring is not correct, but indeed switching the R and W wire to the "incorrect" terminals, (and of course using common +5 ... my error) the 3423 functions as expected ... and is pretty slick I might add.

Thanks for your comment which lead to me to the resolution.

Regards,
John

[dastels]

Huh. Good work on the solution. I guess there's a disconnect between the document and the part... at least that batch. It does happen at times... wiring details change or the mold is made with labels in the wrong places. It's a pain when it happens. Now to PWM those RGB signals and make all the colors.

Dave