DC Jack In-Line Switch

Description

The DC Jack In-Line Switch allows you to switch DC power between your AC adapter and Arduino or other device that uses a standard DC jack.

PACKAGE INCLUDES:

• DC Jack In-Line Switch

KEY FEATURES OF DC JACK IN-LINE SWITCH:

• Standard 2.1 / 5.5mm Male jack on one end and Female jack on the other end
• ON/OFF power switch
• 300mm (11.75″) long

These assemblies are basically a small extender cable with a switch in the middle that provide a way to add a DC power switch to AC/DC Adapters or other small power supplies that use a standard DC power jack.  Work great for providing a power switch for a breadboard or Arduino for instance and is a lot handier than plugging and unplugging jacks or AC cords.

Our Evaluation Results:

These are handy little devices.  We tested them up to 32VDC at 1A with no issues noted.

One thing to watch for is that they do have some resistance of around 0.5 ohms when turned on.  This will result in a voltage drop between the input and output depending on the current load.

That usually isn’t a concern if you are driving a circuit with a regulator built-in like an Arduino or a solderless breadboard power module since the regulator needs to drop the voltage down more anyway and driving the regulator with a little lower voltage is generally a good thing.

On the other hand, if you are using an external supply to directly drive the circuit, such as using a 5V external supply to power a 5V logic circuit, that resistance may become a problem at higher current loads.  For example, if you are switching a 5V line that is running at 500mA, the drop may be up to  500mA * 0.5 Ohm = 250mV, so your 5V supply will be dropped down to about 4.75V which is the low end of the spec for driving 5V circuits.

Notes: 

1. You might see these advertised elsewhere for use at up to 2A or even 5A.  You can probably get away with 2A if you can handle the voltage drop, but I wouldn’t go past that as wire appears to be 24AWG.

Technical Specifications