Vandal-resistant switch

Vandal-resistant switches located on devices that are outdoors must be able to withstand extreme temperatures, dust, rain, snow, and ice.

Vandal-resistant switches are usually protected by the use of robust materials, such as thick stainless steel or heavy-duty plastics.

The height of buttons in the panel is often minimized by using flush-mounting, to make it more difficult to pry them out, a design technique used in ATM banking machines that are located outside.

The International Electrotechnical Commission has produced a standard, IEC 60529, which categorizes products' degrees of protection from liquids and dust using IP codes.

[1] Vandal-resistant switches are often low-voltage, low current, so-called "signal" types intended to trigger a change in state, perhaps from "off" to "on" and vice versa.

[2] Many but not all vandal-resistant switches are momentary types; that is to say they only open or close a circuit while being depressed and revert to their inactive state when the button is released.

Piezoelectric vandal-resistant switches usually fall into this category, but generally provide a pulse signal rather than staying continuously activated during the time pressure is applied, unlike their mechanical contact-based counterparts.

Screw-on door-covered switches are used on public address equipment that is intended to be rented out to non-professional users.

The power tool cannot be operated until an authorized user (e.g. a trained store employee) enters a code into the keypad.

In some products the LEDs can have two colors to show multiple status conditions, such as On (green) / Off (extinguished) / Fault (red).