# Emergency Stop Button

Rather than pulling the plug like a normal person, I decided to make an overkill stop button for those rare situations.

![Two casings with the parts for an emergency stop button, complete with wiring.](https://maxparisi.me/assets/projects/stop-button/wiring.jpg)

> This is one of my oldest projects.
> But also one of my favorites.

An **emergency stop button** allows for the quick and safe disconnection of an electrical device.
They are easy to [find online](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=emergency+stop+button), although why buy one when I can *make it myself?*

I was always interested in electrical work from a young age.
Eventually, I gained skill and experience, building up from powering small DC motors with a 9V battery to working on high-voltage residential systems.

I ordered the parts necessary, such as 22mm housings, lights, switches, and the emergency stop button (also referred to as an *"e-stop"*) itself.

**Oops!**
I bought the wrong switch!
The black switches that are used to toggle power in a non-emergency situation had **3 positions**, not the 2 that I desired.
I didn't want to buy a new switch, so I made both the left and right positions turn the circuit on, while the middle position turned it off.

With that mistake out of the way, wiring was next.
Using the Photos app on my iPad, I drew out how the wiring would work, with the hot, neutral, and ground wires clearly labeled.
I didn't know about wire nuts at the time, so my diagram terminated multiple wires at a wire nut.
I fixed this!

Using Romex with its insulation removed, I connected the components to each other, as well as a male and female plug.
Testing time!

When I plugged in my emergency stop module between an outlet and a light, everything worked!
Almost.

My goal was for the **red light** to show when the stop button has been pressed, but it didn't light up.
Turns out, the red light was just broken!
Luckily, the 3-pack I bought also had an orange light, which I swapped in.
Looking back, I actually think the orange light was better.

## Reflection

This project taught me a lot—such as how to wire together a simple high-voltage circuit and testing parts beforehand.
Although I don't use it anymore, this project was one of my most useful inventions that I'll always remember.