Keypad Components
Modern keycaps show their strengths whenever safety concerns are paramount. For instance, when an operator has to simultaneously monitor both the control panel and the resultant operation. The tactile response provided by Mentor keycaps delivers direct feedback of the input. Further advantages of the keycaps is their robustness and sealing that prevents the ingress of dirt and dust. They can also be operated whilst wearing gloves.
Keypad Components:
- PUSHBUTTON CAPS, SIGNAL INDICATORS and ILLUMINATED KEY CAP
The illuminated key cap from MENTOR is designed for membrane keypads on a rigid circuit carrier (short stroke keypads). Individual key applications are also possible. By using the illuminated key cap, the respective switching statuses can also be displayed visually. Due to the 2-component design with diffuser lens and housing, homogeneous full illumination of the key can be achieved with just two LEDs.
- PUSHBUTTON CAPS WITH INDIVIDUAL FULL AND POINT ILLUMINATION:
In addition to the classical key caps with homogeneous full face illumination, MENTOR also offers caps with additional spot lighting. By means of this spot lighting, different switching statuses can be displayed in multicolour on just one key surface. The key caps are available as standard versions with one or two spot lights. Switching statuses can be displayed visually in three different modes: Full illumination of the key surface, full illumination and spot lighting, or just spot lighting.
- PUSHBUTTON CAPS AND SIGNAL INDICATORS FOR INDIVIDUAL INSCRIPTION INSERTS:
Based on the principle of the familiar MENTOR key caps, the “pushbutton cap for individual inscription inserts“” consists of a standard 2-component housing, a modified diffuser cover plus an additional clip-on cover. The perfect synthesis between the components ensures outstanding homogeneous lighting of the key cap surface using only two LEDs, although of course up to four LEDs can be used.
- PLUNGER WITH POINT ILLUMINATION:
As the optimal addition to our key caps, we also offer plungers for use with short stroke keys. These are designed for keypad applications in which full face illumination is not desired. These low-cost applications can be freely combined with the key caps and signal indicators from the MENTOR keypad components range. Two variants are available:
An illuminated plunger, which offers the possibility of up to four spot lights and a variant that was developed for pure key applications, without visual feedback.
- PUSHBUTTON CAPS WITH MEMBRANE KEYPADS:
The flat, illuminated key cap from MENTOR is designed for use in flat input systems with optional backlighting. With minimal space requirements, it is possible to create robust, customized keypad designs. The structure of the flat key cap is comparable to the familiar key cap variant for short stroke keypads.
- SMD PUSHBUTTONS:
The series 1254 SMD push-buttons can be combined with the entire MENTOR keycap range and merged to create individual control keypads. The keycaps are simply attached to the keys and grouped together in any design on the PCB. The tactile switch has a body of 6.2 mm x 6.2 mm and a total height of 7.3 mm. The range includes keys with four different actuating forces so that the customer can select the tactile sensitivity entire according to his own requirements, based on the type of use. Depending on the variant of tactile switch, up to 1 million switching cycles can be achieved.
- 7-SEGMENT DISPLAYS:
7 segment displays are classical, low-cost display elements, which interact in combination with other different input and output elements, such as keypads. Mechanical height differences between the individual components usually have to be compensated for. For assembly with SMD technology, either DIL sockets or elaborate sandwich boards are currently used to compensate for the height differences at the PCB edge.
- LIGHT GUIDES FOR STAND-ALONE INDICATORS:
Stand-alone LED indicators can be positioned on the PCB regardless of the key position and used as signal indicators. Arranged individually or in groups, the light guides can indicate different switching or activation states, for example, or can act as classical On/Off or Caps Lock indicators. MENTOR offers individual or multiple light guides, which are perfectly coordinated to the two standard heights (9.7 mm or 12.5 mm) of the MENTOR keypad components. In this way, the LED indicators can be conveniently combined with all key caps and light fields from the catalogue range to customised keypads.