CPI Switch Customization – Our Bread and Butter
While CPI makes a wide variety of so called “off the shelf” parts, it turns out that engineers are quite particular about what they want in a switch or sensor. We totally get that, we’re engineers too.
And so a big part of CPI’s business has always been the customization of our switches to fit the requirements of some interesting, but atypical application, requiring us to push elements of our switch technology to the limit.
After 75 years, we’ve become quite good at this!
The number and types of custom products we’ve made over the years covers hundreds of variations from the very simple (lead length, connector terminations) to the very complex (extended temp range, ultra-cold performance, hermetic sealing) to the downright impossible but hey it doesn’t hurt to ask right?
What kinds of Switch Customizations Have we Done?
That’s a good question, with a long set of answers, too long to cover every one over the last 50 or so years, but generally if our switches are in the ballpark of what you want, we can get them the rest of the way there.
And by the way, we’ve done customizations for both our thermal and waterproof lines. After all, we are engineers first. Our most common customizations include:
Custom Terminations – Spade, ring, or custom molded industry standard connector types can be factory applied to both 2 and 3 wire variants of both our Thermal and Waterproof Switches.
Lead Lengths – Standard lead lengths are 18″ but can be manufactured in any length that is needed to directly integrate into your application.
Mounting Brackets – While CPI offers a wide variety of stainless steel mounting brackets, there’s always someone wanted to take advantage of our small form factor switches and put them in an even tighter spot. We can do that.
And of course there are a myriad of electrical and mechanical parameters that can be customized with careful design and manufacturing. Below are just some of the things we’ve done for clients:
Dielectric Hardening – To function in the heavy EM fields of an Electric Bus magnetic charging station, our AD190 surface mount thermal switch was modified to function in 5000VAC electromagnetic fields.
Waterproof Plunger Switch – Our premier version of the J4 plunger switch was designed to stringent military requirments which called for no particles or contaminents leaking into the switch during activation. Thus was created our “double exclusion seal” which actually pushes contaminents back out of the switch as it is released.
Cold Weather Operation – By modifying the actuator material and sealing the switch in Santoprene, CPI switches were able to obtain certified operation at -40C without freeze ups or cracking. The switches are used by the military, but also by utility companies who monitor certain electrical situations at the top of telephone poles in remote, cold areas.
Extended Temperature Ranges – Our waterproof switches can achieve a temperature range of from -40F to 221F when sealed in santoprene.
Hermetically Sealed Switches – Our line of thermal switches can be provided with hermetically sealed options for special environmental requirements.
Custom Switch Plates – CPI not only makes PCB or surface mountable switches, we can make them custom for you. We’ve done this for everything from water crafts to garbage trucks, and its just one less step for OEM’s in thier assembly process.
Qualifications – CPI has achieved a variety of formal qualifications over the years for its thermal and waterproof switches. These include IP68 ratings, UL ratings and a variety of MIL and RTCA DO-160C for thermals.
CPI Custom Engineering Saves You Time and Money
With the engineering and product teams at CPI completely focused on the design, manufacturing and testing of your custom part or subassembly, that’s one less thing you have to worry about.
And with parts designed, built and tested in the USA, that’s also one less supply chain you have to worry about.
Call our engineering team today!