resistor

[oakmeadows]

i am running 2 x12volt dc motors @ 600ma each ( but not at the same time)the battery i am using is a 12 volt 7 ah with a 240 volt dpdt switch for an on/off switch. as i am using the 2 motors the switch is getting very hot so i was thinking do i put in a resistor somewhere if so where and at what value
thanks for any call back

 

[Asjad]

OHMS LAW!!!

It is simply Voltage=Current*Resistance

So if you want to drive one motor at a time it is:

12v=0.6*R

R is then equal to 20 ohms

What is the power rating of your switch??

 

[Asjad]

resistor power

be careful, you may need to watch the power rating of your resistor.

The standard 1/4 W will not do

get 1-2 Watt resistor, and do the touch test to see if starts to cook!

 

[Optikon]

i am running 2 x12volt dc motors @ 600ma each ( but not at the same time)the battery i am using is a 12 volt 7 ah with a 240 volt dpdt switch for an on/off switch. as i am using the 2 motors the switch is getting very hot so i was thinking do i put in a resistor somewhere if so where and at what value
thanks for any call back

You may want to consider something like using a switch with higher power rating or get one with several contacts that you can parallel to reduce the stress on each single contact. This is more efficient than burning watts in a resistor to relieve a switch contact.