Montana Ghost Hunter

Okay, so the fun project tonight was to add a toggle switch to my KII EMF meter. I had to go to my local electronics store and pick up a few things. The first thing was a micro-toggle switch (SPST). SPST means Single Pole, Single Throw. It should have only two leads off of the toggle.

The first part is to take apart the KII EMF meter. Flip the meter over and you’ll see two screws holding the back plate. Use a phillips screwdriver to take these out. Make sure you hold onto these screws!

Once the screws are removed, you’ll be able to take the back plate off easily. This will expose the circuit board and battery.

Carefully take the circuit board and battery out. It should come out easily.

You’ll see the existing tactile switch. It’ll have a yellow button. This is a SPST switch as well, but it turns off on release. This is what we need to remedy.

What we need to do is tie into the tactile switch with our toggle switch. This will give us the ability to turn the unit on with our toggle OR with the existing button. Flip the board over and notice the two solder joints I circled in red. Identify those on your board.

These points are where we need to solder wires to our toggle. I wanted to test these first, so grabbed a couple of alligator leads and attached them to the solder points and to my toggle, and I was able to turn it off or on with the switch.

If all is good, it’s time to get serious. I got some wire leads (I would recommend wires a tad longer than what I’m showing). I took the lugs off of the toggle and got my drill bit ready.

I solder the wires to the solder points I identified earlier. I continue to test by connecting my alligator leads to my newly soldered leads. The switch should work.

I then solder the leads to the toggle switch. Again I test to make sure everything is working correctly before going to the next step.

I then measure the diameter of the toggle switch (the threaded part). This is the part that will need to go through the enclosure. I use a caliper and once I get my diameter, I find the appropriate drill bit.

After getting the diameter figured out, I drill the hole into the enclosure. You’ll want it below the circuit board. There is a good gap between the LEDs and the capcitors. I drilled approximately at the mold line. After the hole is drilled, feed the toggle switch through and tighten the lugs. The circuit board can fall back into place and tuck your wires. This is where I went wrong. My wires were a tad short. If they were a inch longer I could have tucked them better.

Place the backplate back on, and you should be good to go! Hope this helps.