02. Useful buttons, switches and other hardware - MobiFlight/mobiflight-templates GitHub Wiki

Suppliers

These are just a short list of vendors, there are likely others too that work and are reliable, and we can add to the list.

• Aliexpress often cloned, non-genuine parts, but at a very good price.
• Mouser is one international supplier
• Digikey is another, they sponsor and contribute to the KiCad open source circuit board design suite
• TME.eu is a company in Poland, with a fast but affordable shipping and pretty good selection. Some parts are clearly the same you find at Aliexpress, but they ship and deliver in a few days.
• Octopart is a listing site that shows different distributors for a part, with prices so you can choose the best one for you.

Note that since Aliexpress is a bit like EBay, with a lot of "stores" that sell through the platform, the links might not work forever - but searching for something similar should give you alternatives if that happens.

Encoders

The dual concentric encoder

This type of encoder is used in many places: in radio tuners, and menu controllers, GPS devices etc. The most common component for this is the ALPS EC11EBB24C03 that can be found for example on Aliexpress (not necessarily as a genuine part!) or other suppliers. These have 30 clicks per turn, which is quite a lot, but they are the most affordable available. For MobiFlight set type to "2 detents per cycle (00, 11)".

There is a knob set for 3d printing under misc_files folder.

The alternative one is ELMA E37-VT6330-1 which can be found from Leo Bodnar's store among other places, but the cost per one is about three times higher, and it has a different pin layout.

Regular encoders

For mobiflight the 24 detent / pulse per revolution is pretty good choice, and the EC11 style encoders pictured above can be found from many manufacturers, and they all have the same physical layout footprint. When you make panels using a circuit board on the back, you can also use encoders without mounting threads and nut & washer, but that does not hurt either, just leave them out when building your panel, as the encoder will be soldered pretty firmly on the pcboard anyway. Most of these seem to be type "1 detent per cycle (00)".

The vertical speed wheel

This "sideways" encoder works nicely for vspeed wheel on autopilots. There are many similar ones from other manufacturers too, but this has a the "plum" shaft that works well with a 3d printed vspeed wheel that can just be pushed on with friction fit. The listing on Octopart shows several distributors.

Toggle switches

The real aviation grade toggles are expensive, and also very big, which makes mounting them on a PCBoard pretty hard. But these "T80 Z1" toggle switches combine a large handle with a small switch body, they are probably made for electric guitars and pedals, and are very clever, as they dont need so much space behind the panel, but still look and feel bigger than the regular toggles of this type that have a very thin handle. They are also available with different configurations like a three-position where one position has a spring-loaded return, that works nicely for example as a Citation CJ4 generator switch, where it has OFF, ON and a returning RESET state.

Push buttons, with and without leds

Some suitable ones for panels.

• Very affordable pushbutton with integrated led light - these can be found all over aliexpress, also with other colors than white.

• Tiny led button useful for keypads and FMC buttons etc, that are small

• Multimec 3fth9 pushbutton can be used with or without 1 or 2 leds - the button cap just needs a small hole in the center for the light (and led top) to pass through.

Potentiometers

Linear 10kOhm potentiometers seem to be most widely used for Arduino and they work fine with MobiFlight too. One particularly useful one for panel use is this one from Aliexpress (which is likely a clone or genuine Alps potentiometer) that has the same size and footprint as the EC11 encoders, though the center pin is the wiper, so you need to pay attention to the wiring if you wish to replace an encoder with a potentiometer.

Standoffs

The common nylon spacers can be used to mount the pcboard behind the panel at a particular distance. On many of the panels I have done, I tend to stick to 10mm which seems to fit many switches nicely, and the button caps can then be adjusted to fit the remaining space. But the height of the standoff is dictated by your components really.