I recently purchase a replacement switch for an electric sewer auger model k-38 I wired it exactly the same way the other one was, however upon connecting the machine to the power source the machine turned automatically on without activating the switch.. does any one have a wiring schematic for wiring the switch.. a blue print will help. The switch is a trigger activating switch with a forward and reverse feature.. please help.

I copied this at Plumbing in addition to Electrical, on the chance that a plumber may be familiar with this tool.

A simple way to think of this switch is imagining 2 SPDT switches side by side with the 'handles' attached to each other. Perhaps the most popular use for this switch is 'phase or polarity reversal'. So, how does the DPDT switch accomplish this? First, you have to wire the 2 'top' and 2 'bottom' terminals in a 'criss-cross' fashion. The top 2 terminals become the input and the middle two terminals become the ouput. Now, referring to the bottom left diagram, the switch is in the 'up' position, W & Y are connected, as are X & Z. The polarity is maintained because the input and output are directly connected. No problem seeing that right?

For a diagrahm for how to do this look at:

Basic Electricity Tutorial - Switches (http://www.1728.com/project2.htm)


Now let's see what happens when the switch is in the 'down' position (right diagram). The + input goes from the 'W' terminal, down to the lower right and then up to the 'Z' terminal. The negative input goes from the 'X' terminal and out through the 'Y' terminal. See what has happened? With one flip of a switch, polarity has been reversed. What applications does this have? For one thing, electric guitar players use this type of switch to put one pickup out of phase with the other, producing a thin, 'squawcky', 'inside-out' kind of sound. In the 'old days' before 3 prong plugs, power switches on some electrical devices used this switching arrangement to switch polarity in case the plug was in the outlet the "wrong way".

Hi Kasper,
"electric sewer auger model k-38" Ridgid makes a K-39 hand held auger and a K 3800 sewer machine, (see images) I can't pull up anything on a K-38. Can you help me out here? Tom

Just take it apart and do it again. You've made some basic mistake. Hopefully, you won't repeat it this time...