Detailed switch notes:
First, we are talking about a simple switch with no center position -- very
similar to a wall switch for your house lights, but with 3 poles instead of 2 or
4. Don't get confused with the LABELs of "on" (int'l.
"I") or "off" (int'l. "O"), as these just give the
user a visual reference of the EFFECT and the labels can be placed either way.
Your wall switches and many others will usually work like this:
"on" is closing a circuit by making contact in the switch so that
electricity can continue through to the light bulb. "Off"
opens/breaks the circuit in the switch. (The phrase "turn the lights
on/off" comes from original switches which actually rotated to position,
like car key ignitions.) Your wall switches are actually toggles, but with
a protruding arms so your fingers can find them in the dark. Many
automotive switches are like the toggle used in the Whisper.
DK used to mount a plastic master switch case lower to the ground on the `96
Whisper and ` 97 Whisper Plus models, but the plastic case could get
kicked/craccked. So they mounted the toggle higher on the frame and in an
aluminum plate, as you see riveted on the frame. My hunch is that these
plastic toggles will not last as long as the motors, as mounted in aluminum
which vibrates. This same toggle is used in some other products I've
bought and is available out in the market, but I'm thinking you might be better
served getting a metal toggle. So what if it has a protruding arm?
On the GT (mounted higher than earlier electric start models), this shouldn't be
a problem.
I'm doing this from memory (which is fading fast as the years go by), but you
want a 3 pole switch such that the center pole is your common "ground"
and it should take the purple wire on your GT. The top wire should be blue
and the bottom black. Remember, the words "on" and
"off" are simply labels for an effect. I can check this later
today to see how bad my memory is, but when that specific toggle is
"ON" the only the purple and black wires close, to allow juice to flow
to the electric start hand grip "RUN" button, so when depressed, the
juice continues back down to the relay, which is a large electromagentic swithc
for the large amp draw of the starter. So the elctric start system really
has 3 switches in line and if the first one in
the master toggle (or any line from it/to it) are broken, the electric starter
won't work. Also, when the master toggle is in the "ON" postion,
it also opening (turning off) the blue wire, which would otherwise ground out
ignition juice for the CDI/coil/spark plug.
When you flip the master toggle to its "OFF" position, the reverse of
the above occurs, where the electric start can NOT work (opened that circuit)
and also, the engine will shut down (closed the ignition ground circuit back to
the frame, diverting juice which would otherwise travel the CDI route and
provide spark). It's real important with many of these higher quality CDI
units to avoid running the engine without the ignition juice having an
eventual ground -- either directly back to the frame (switch "OFF") or
jumping the spark plug gap (switch "ON"). Once in awhile,
somebody will
pull their plug to SEE if there is spark, but won't hold the plug firmly against
a ground spot -- this can wreck some CDIs.
So, if you buy a metal toggle switch to replace yours, don't get confused with
the way they package the "on" and "off" labels, as you might
flip the
labels around to read opposite of the way they thought they might be used. It
needs to have a center pole (NOT position) which feeds either the two
positions (on and off).
Scott@paraborne.com
What you're referring to is a SPDT (Single Pole/Double Throw) switch.
This is an ON/ON 2-Position switch (where the center pole connects to the
corresponding outside contact depending on the switch position). A 5 A /
125 V SPDP miniture toggle from Radio Shack should work fine (just measure the
hole opening to make sure - I haven't replaced mine yet but plan on it for
insurance against failure - the DK switches are pretty cheaply made).
There are different style toggle switches to choose from depending on your
preference (metal toggle, rubber coated toggle, and paddle toggle to name a
few), and there are rocker toggles as well (like the factory version), but most
of the rocker toggles I've seen come in a square cut-out base, whereas a round
base toggle would probably fit right in the mounting bracket (the one in the
post 96/97 models that Scott described) without any modifications.
Mark