[sdiy] Gold plated switches vs other types of plating

[Karl Ekdahl]

Hi list, i've been wondering about switch plating lately - while i understand that switches that have an internal gold plating is going to last longer than nickel plated ones, i'm wondering just how much longer? Is it time while used or unused (as in time to make build-up happen)? And what coating are switches generally that are not gold plated, is it nickel? What's the life expectancy of those? Confused..

Thanks!

Karl