Bill
>>So the new light in the switch indicates that the switch is on, and it stays on for as long as the switch is on, and is powered by the 12-volts that runs the igniter circuit?
Yes, you are 100% correct. I removed the original switch (on left) which is a 2-contact SPST type and replaced with the Calterm illuminated switch (12V @20A, way overkill!). It is also a SPST switch but has the 12V indicator light in it and 3 terminals labeled 'Battery', 'Accessory' and 'Ground'. The 'Battery' hooks to the original blue (12V hot) wire, the 'Accessory' terminal hooks to the original red wire and the 'Ground' terminal needs a piece of wire to splice into the green (Chassis Gnd) wire that is on the other light indicator. This puts the indicator lamp in the switch in parallel with the heater control module, not in series. So no voltage drop to the module.
So in addition to the switch, you'd need a wire to wire splicer, a 1/4" female spade lug crimp connector and a ~4" piece of 16-18ga wire (green if you're picky!)
The illuminated switches are available in amber, green, blue or red lights. I chose red for the maximum STWHIO factor.
I also came up with a "low-power" version using an illuminated switch (with LED instead of incandescent) but this was way more expensive with the shipping from Digikey.com. Well then I do have a really dirt cheap LED version using an LED and 1k resistor from my junk box. This uses the existing switch but requires drilling a hole in the existing switch plate and mounting the LED. This also required soldering, seemed to geeky and not as straighforward. I'd stick with the Calterm switch.
OLT... If someone wants to add the switch, make sure to pull the fuse for the DC portion of the water heater, mine (not labeled) was fuse #1, beforehand.
Troy
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