How to make a Toggle Switch in Minecraft (2024)

There are many other techniques online for making buttons work like levers in Minecraft, but this particular T flip-flop switch method is the easiest, most compact and most silent variation I’ve found to date (see Hat Tip section below).

This is my easy-to-follow guide on building this wonderful little toggle switch.

Simply put, a “T flip-flop” or “toggle flip-flop” (or sometimes just “flip flop”) switch is a 1-bit memory cell that can store the impulse from a button into a constant signal, effectively turning a button into a type of lever.

Since the button is not a lever, there is one major advantage to using this type of switch: it can receive signals from multiple inputs (or buttons). Levers, however, lock the redstone current “on” when they’re activated, and won’t allow a competing input to toggle the signal (or at least not easily as far as I’m aware).

For example, if you have a lever that opens a door from the outside, you cannot close the door from the inside (using a separate lever or button). Only when the lever is deactivated (door is closed), can a separate signal open/close the door. This isn’t ideal, and it’s probably the precise reason you’ve been looking for another switch method.

So, how do you use a button to open door long term (constant signal) rather than through a brief impulse? The answer: a “T flip-flop” switch.

Ingredients

First, lets get our minimum set of ingredients/items:

• 3 Droppers
• 1 Hopper
• 1 Redstone Comparator
• 1 Button
• 1 Block of any kind; I used Wool
• 1 Block of any kind to continue the circuit**

** Note: for this guide, I connected the switch to a redstone lamp so it’s super simple to tell when the circuit is on or off. More on this aspect later.

Step 1

With you facing in the direction you want your redstone current to run, place the first dropper facing you.

Step 2

Place a second dropper just behind the first dropper, facing upward. This will mean the first dropper is now flowing into the second one (facing it).

Step 3

While crouching, place the third dropper on top of the second dropper, but facing the direction of the redstone current (opposite the first dropper).

Note: crouching while placing the third dropper will prevent you from clicking into the second dropper’s inventory.

Step 4

While crouching again, place a hopper on top of the first dropper.

What this setup will accomplish is a circuit where the droppers and hopper are feeding one another. More on the importance of this later.

Step 5

Now, place a comparator in front of the very first dropper, so that its arrow (in the middle of the comparator) faces in the direction of the redstone current.

Step 6

While crouching, place a button on the back of the second dropper.

The back of the second dropper is your where your input source should direct its impulse.

Step 7

Place any block inside the second dropper. For this guide I’ve chosen white wool.

The basic T flip-flop switch cell is now complete. On to the last step: giving it light!

Step 8

Place a redstone lamp just in front of the comparator to complete the build in its most simple form.

You now have a working T flip-flop switch! Simply push the button at the back, watch the lamp switch on, and marvel at how silent it is.

This circuit is so simple, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t think of it—I know I felt that way at least!

Basically, when the button is pressed (or the second dropper receives an impulse signal), it “drops” the wool inside to the dropper above it, which then “drops” the wool into the hopper (since the impulse is still active from the button). The hopper then drops the wool into the dropper below it.

When droppers have an item inside them, they are “activated”. So, at this point, the comparator can now “compare” the “activated” state of the dropper behind it and turn on the signal to the redstone lamp. This signal stays on as long as this dropper is filled with the wool, and it will remain here until the button sends another impulse.

When the button is pressed a second time, the dropper next to the comparator “drops” the wool back into the first dropper and the comparator turns off the signal (since the final dropper is no longer activated).

In the example above, I’ve place a redstone lamp directly beside the comparator and a button directly on the second-placed dropper. However, you can easily modify the placement of the input (button) and the output (redstone lamp) and extend the circuit.

By placing a redstone repeater facing the direction of the current followed by redstone dust, it will boost the signal from the comparator and toward your lamp (or door or whatever your desired output might be). Likewise, the input button can easily be extended by a trail of redstone dust into the back of the second-placed dropper.

You can also create two input sources by extending redstone dust from the back of the second dropper to two separate buttons.

Having two inputs comes in handy when you’re wanting the option of opening and closing a door (or maybe even a hidden door) from both sides.

Credit to Jesse Stay, Thomas Stay, Jacob Cordeiro for their Build Design B, where I learned about this design.

If you have any questions, comments or ideas on how this switch can be improved, please feel free to share!