Rotary encoded DIP switches are mounted on printed circuit boards in order to control the behaviour of electronic devices and are activated by a rotating shaft which has several stop positions. They use the DIP form factor so that arrays of multiple switches can be incorporated into a single package.
Rotary encoded DIP switches or rotary coded switches can be actuated with a screwdriver, flywheels or push wheels that are turned manually. The actuators either rotate continuously or stop between positions and generate a binary circuit code. Common formats include binary coded decimal (BCD) and Gray code, but other options include the octal and hexadecimal systems. The octal system uses eight digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The hexadecimal system used 16 symbols: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E and F.