I am flexible about whether the LED tube is 120v AC or 12/24VDC. Would one or the other make my life easier trying to fit it into a lamp base?

I'd recommend 12 or 24 VDC. If you go with 120 volts you'll need to rectify it and make sure your LED's are rated for that voltage. Also, I'd suggest you talk about the LED's you want to use as well. How you hook them up can be important. Knowing which type - we can help.

 

I am thinking that a 12 volt ten amp LED array would be bright like a serious driving light, rather than a desk light. If you want to go with a 12 volt LED array that makes more sense, if you have room for the power supply.
Since the original buttons are rated for 120 volt service you can use a 120 volt AC coil relay and gain a bit of efficiency because the switching will switch off the power supply, while if you use a 12 volt relay then the power supply will be on as long as the lamp is plugged in, not as efficient. The relay should be an enclosed type to keep dust out of the contacts. The nomenclature would be DPST, NO.(coil voltage) .What that means is that the relay should have two sets of normally open contacts that close when the relay is energized. And the contacts should be rated for about 5 amps and at least 120 volts AC, unless you decide to switch the 12 volts. The one other requirement is that the relay should be rated for continuous duty. (horn relays are cheap and common but they are not for continuing operation, they burn up eventually.)
I will need to draw a circuit and scan it, unless somebody else provides it. The reason for two sets of contacts is so that the on button does not need to carry the power supply current. Those red and black two button switches are very rare now and getting a replacement might be a serious challenge

 

Here's a drawing of how you'd go about hooking it up: You'll need a DPDT relay so that when you push the red button the LED's come on. For a moment you complete the ground leg, energizing the relay. The first set of contacts hold ground on the relay keeping it on. The second set of contacts provides power to your LED's.

When you push the black button you remove power from the relay and the LED's. The relay falls out and stays out until you push the red button again. You'll need a relay rated for the proper voltage for the coil and the proper amperage for the contacts. In this drawing I assume no voltages - you're the engineer on that part.

View attachment 205811

TONY!! THANK YOU for providing exactly the circuit that I was describing. If the TS decides to switch the AC line instead of the DC, just substitute the power supply input for the LED in the drawing.

 

The reason for two sets of contacts is so that the on button does not need to carry the power supply current. Those red and black two button switches are very rare now and getting a replacement might be a serious challenge

TONY!! THANK YOU for providing exactly the circuit that I was describing. If the TS decides to switch the AC line instead of the DC, just substitute the power supply input for the LED in the drawing.

If you really want the buttons to not be handling the bulk of the current, like you said in the first quote, you'd need a slight variation on this drawing.

P.S. two drawings of this circuit were already posted all the way back at post 4.

 

I think this covers the variation where the antique switch only handles relay coil current, but not LED or power supply current.

 

On second thought, I see that there are a few subtle differences in terms of which legs are being switched. I'm pretty sure it makes absolutely no difference and that Tony's latching setup is functionally equivalent to the ones I posted earlier. But, just in case I'm wrong and there is a reason to prefer that setup, here's a version of his schematic modified so that neither part of the antique switch assy. ever handles the LED current switching. All it takes is picking up the red wire connection for the second set of contacts before the black switch instead of after it:

 

@ebeowulf17 Excellent mod. Highly recommended.

I must have forgotten about post #4. Don't know how I missed it.

 

@ebeowulf17 Excellent mod. Highly recommended.

I must have forgotten about post #4. Don't know how I missed it.

@MisterBill2's idea, I just moved a few pixels!

No worries on post 4 - I just enjoy teasing now and again.

 

@MisterBill2's idea, I just moved a few pixels!

No worries on post 4 - I just enjoy teasing now and again.

Please understand that besides having no mind-reading ability, I am also not infallible.

 

Please understand that besides having no mind-reading ability, I am also not infallible.

Well THAT put the skids on my whole day!

 

That's how a similar lamp I once had worked, push one for on and then the other for off. Can't imagine that they used a relay or logic needed for momentary buttons back in the day.

After thinking more about my old lamp, while it looked like that one, mine wasn't a florescent lamp. But it was incandescent using a switch that looked very similar, a red button for on and black for off.

 

After thinking more about my old lamp, while it looked like that one, mine wasn't a florescent lamp. But it was incandescent using a switch that looked very similar, a red button for on and black for off.

Could have been a Radio-Button style action then!
Max.

 

Could have been a Radio-Button style action then!
Max.

In at least one version of that switch the black button contacts were maintained, so that pressing the red butto switched them on and also closed the momentary starting contacts as well. So that one switch model would have worked for either kind of light. Of course they may have been that way all along.

 

Lots of conjecture going on. We need facts. Which points of connection are in constant continuity (or not) and which points are open - - - only pressing the buttons change the states of each. Then we'll know what kind of switch it is.

 

Lots of conjecture going on. We need facts. Which points of connection are in constant continuity (or not) and which points are open - - - only pressing the buttons change the states of each. Then we'll know what kind of switch it is.

For the application stated by the TS it matters not if the off is momentary off or maintained off, since it must be on when the light is on, and it musty have been on when the original florescent tube light was on. if the opening was constant or momentary when switching OFF, it clearly had to ne ON when the mode was ON. So no matter which, it does not matter.

 

For the application stated by the TS it matters not if the off is momentary off or maintained off, since it must be on when the light is on, and it musty have been on when the original florescent tube light was on. if the opening was constant or momentary when switching OFF, it clearly had to ne ON when the mode was ON. So no matter which, it does not matter.

Well, yeah. But if it's a simple ON / OFF switch then it would likely have only two wires. Since there are four wires - and I know some switches DO switch both hot and neutral, take for instance my table saw; the switch failed and had to be replaced. It switched both hot and neutral legs. Maybe that was so that 240 could be accommodated - I don't know. Still, as I was saying, a simple switch has two points of connection. That's why I'm suggesting fully testing the switch to know what every connection point does when neither button is pressed and when each button is pressed. To make assumptions of the functioning of a switch can lead to making a wrong recommendation. And I wouldn't want to be responsible for inadvertently causing the destruction of an old, possibly antique switch. Especially since they're rare.

 

Well, yeah. But if it's a simple ON / OFF switch then it would likely have only two wires. Since there are four wires - and I know some switches DO switch both hot and neutral, take for instance my table saw; the switch failed and had to be replaced. It switched both hot and neutral legs. Maybe that was so that 240 could be accommodated - I don't know. Still, as I was saying, a simple switch has two points of connection. That's why I'm suggesting fully testing the switch to know what every connection point does when neither button is pressed and when each button is pressed. To make assumptions of the functioning of a switch can lead to making a wrong recommendation. And I wouldn't want to be responsible for inadvertently causing the destruction of an old, possibly antique switch. Especially since they're rare.

For that type of florescent light circuit there must ALWAYS be 4 wires. Pressing the red button not only switches on the mains, it also duplicates the starter function. Those two functions MUST always be separated.

 

Again @MisterBill2, we don't know for sure what kind of switch we're discussing.

 

Again @MisterBill2, we don't know for sure what kind of switch we're discussing.

Yes, given the type of lamp and the description we can be quite certain as to the functionality of the switch. Given the components described and the era that the light is from, we can be quite certain as to what the switch did and how it did it.

 

@MisterBill2 You actually know the era? In a thread about a neon lamp I thought I knew what I was talking about but was actually mistaken. And I was the starter of that thread. I gave faulty information. Everyone assumed I knew what I was discussing, but it wasn't until I opened the unit and took pictures that everyone was able to give me an accurate answer based on what was seen and not on what I described.

I still lack the confidence to tell the thread starter how to wire his switch. And we haven't heard from @taylorroesch since April 30th. Here's what I'm thinking the switch CAN be (one or the other):



Until we know for sure what's going on - giving advice may prove damaging to his project. Or maybe as @MisterBill2 suggests the possibility of a hybrid where pushing and holding the red button (again assumed) not only turns the lamp on but also starts the tube.

Oh, and I got the red and black buttons reversed on the last switch. "Push ON" and "Push OFF" are still the same. Only the colors should be changed.