Re: What is a DIP switch?

[Bill Sheehan]

DIP is an acronym for "Damned Invisible Plastic."   A similar function  
is performed by Jumpers, so called because the tiny square of plastic  
jumps from your fingers as you're trying to fit it over two contact  
points, and you never see it again.

-- Bill

On Feb 3, 2004, at 9:39 AM, Doug McNutt wrote:

At 22:47 -0500 2/2/04, Kendall Hannon wrote:
what is a DIP switch?
It's amazing what engineers take for granted.

DIP stands for Dual Inline Package. It's a plastic or ceramic molding  
that holds a silicon chip. There are two rows of either 7 or 8 pins  
spaced by 0.100 inches and 0.300 inches apart. They were first used  
circa 1960. Older printed circuit boards are full of them.

Someone invented a switch which could connect, or disconnect, opposing  
pins on a DIP. One uses a stylus or a ball point pen to move the 7 or  
8 switches changing the way a printed circuit board works. Of course  
it was dubbed a DIP switch.

They are notoriously unreliable and subject to corrosion and dirt. A  
few hundred operations and they will break. Many engineers think DIP  
represents a personality trait. The technique now is to use rows of  
pairs of gold plated pins which are programmed with jumpers that users  
can move around.

DIPSW1 (00000100) and DIPSW2 (1100)
The third switch from the right is on in DIPSW1.
The third and fourth switches are on in DIPSW2.
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