I am looking at a 20 year-old, heavily corroded circuit of a push-button handheld control for a DC motor that I intend to "rebuild".

It consists of two micro switches which are connected to (fairly large) 12Vdc relays that allow for the reversal of the direction for the motor. It is connected to the relay via cable with a length of a few meters.

In parallel to each micro switch two components are connected:

• a HEL-7D560K varistor
• and a 1J100 capacitor

Can somebody explain the design rationale to me?

• Is this a debouncing circuit?
• Or a snubber circuit?
• Is the varistor primarily intended to protect the capacitor or the micro-switch contacts? Is it a "safety" feature or something that comes into play in normal operation? If it is the latter, will this not degrade the varistor?
• Is it possible to say what type of capacitor this is?
• If this circuit was designed today, would the same components be used?