Greetings,

I'm new to the forum and am a bit of an amateur. I have a vintage Hammond organ connected to a rotating (Leslie) speaker. Part of the connection involves a circut that sends AC from the organ to the speaker motor, with a switch to open and close the circuit right at hand of the musician. The problem is having AC right @ by one's hand.

I've heard of other people creating a circuit so that the AC is converted to DC to the switch, and than somehow converted back to AC to run the motor. The strenght of the voltage at the switch is not important - just low enough not to accidently kill a person. Any insight as to how to create this circuit is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Dale G

 

Are the 'hot' terminals of the switch exposed so that they can be touched? If so wouldn't it be easier to enclose the switch so the terminals are covered?

 

People touch switches that have 120VAC a few millimeters away every day.

Can you provide a photograph of the switch in question, preferably from two angles, to see if there is an issue?

If there is, switching to DC wouldn't matter much, 120V is 120V, although DC is slightly more dangerous for a few reasons.

Any switch carrying a voltage over 50 to 60V (AC or DC) needs attention to broken switches.

 

I'm thinking OP is referring to a relay setup. low voltage goes through a switch to a relay coil. relay contacts switch the 120V.

 

Is there a problem with AC fields from the switch causing hum, or "pops" when the switch is operated?

In this case, improved shielding or suppression filters may be the answer.

 

Perhaps a solid-state AC relay controlled by a switch would solve any problems. A SS relay typically only requires 15-20mA of low voltage DC to operate.