Electronics

Expansion

British

American

specification

of

mains

electrical

and

abbreviation

wiring

wiring

name

name

abbreviation

Description

A simple on-off switch: The

two terminals are either
SPST

Single pole,
single throw

One-way

Two-way

connected together or
disconnected from each
other. An example is a light
switch.

SPDT

SPCO
SPTT, c.o.

Single pole,
double throw

Two-way

Threeway

A simple changeover
switch: C (COM, Common)
is connected to L1 or to L2.

Single pole

Similar to SPDT. Some

changeover

suppliers

or

use SPCO/SPTTfor

Single pole,

switches with a stable off

centre off or

position in the centre

Single Pole,

and SPDT for those

Triple Throw

without.[citation needed]

Equivalent to
DPST

Double pole,
single throw

Double pole

Double

two SPST switches

pole

controlled by a single
mechanism

Symbol

Equivalent to
DPDT

Double pole,

two SPDT switches

double throw

controlled by a single
mechanism.

Schematically equivalent
to DPDT. Some suppliers
use DPCO for switches
with a stable center
position and DPDT for
those without. A

DPCO

Double pole

DPDT/DPCO switch with a

changeover

center position can be "off"

or Double

in the center, not

pole, centre

connected to either L1 or

off

L2, or "on", connected to

both L1 and L2 at the
same time. The positions
of such switches are
commonly referenced as
"on-off-on" and "on-on-on"
respectively.

DPDT switch internally

wired for polarity-reversal
Intermediate Four-way applications: only four
switch

switch

rather than six wires are

brought outside the switch
housing.

Changeover switch with a

(COM, Common) which
2P6T

Two pole, six

throw

can connect to L1, L2, L3,

L4, L5, or L6; with a
second switch (2P, two
pole) controlled by a single
mechanism

Switches with larger numbers of poles or throws can be described by replacing the "S" or "D" with a
number (e.g. 3PST, 4PST, etc.) or in some cases the letter "T" (for "triple") or "Q" (for "quadruple"). In
the rest of this article the terms SPST,SPDT and intermediate will be used to avoid the ambiguity.