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Hi,
I am not sure i would trust a reed switch for mission critical applications like diving or caving. I've seen too many fail in the past dispite reading fairly good reliability. There's also the temperature change which may effect operation.
Maybe a hall effect device would be better? I assume you want to use a reed switch because it can be activated magnetically.
Thanks for all the replies.
The bulb I'm using is a 7 watt MR16 led. I don't want to reduce the voltage to the bulb. only to the switch. I'm assuming there is some simple way to do this. The reed switch that I tested is rated for about .5 amps, and it seemed to fail instantly. It activated one time and then stayed on continuously.
What is a hall effect device?
Reed switches are EXTREMELY reliable, I'd certainly much sooner use one of those than a hall effect device
Presumably he needs some kind of FET switch, and latching system - I presume it's for toggling a SCUBA light ON and OFF?.
I've also had a reed switch stick closed, even though it was switching only ~1mA through a resistive load. I attributed the failure to permanent magnetisation of the reeds, since the switch was sensing rotations of a wheel-mounted magnet.In that time i have seen maybe 10 reed switches fail for apparently no reason. The typical setting is they get stuck closed.
I've also had a reed switch stick closed, even though it was switching only ~1mA through a resistive load. I attributed the failure to permanent magnetisation of the reeds, since the switch was sensing rotations of a wheel-mounted magnet.