illuminated switch giving me some trouble

y2j514 wrote: when I did your "test" to see if its incadesent or LED, when I put power across 1 and 3, I did get it to light up- so there is something wrong with your logic, or my switch was made differently.

The test as Iam described is accurate. The thing is, when you "put power across 1 and 3," it was to be applied in reverse polarity, with the +V connected to the ground. It shouldn't light up when you turn the switch on. Did you maybe think "flip the switch" meant reverse the connections rather than "turn the switch on"? To make it easier, if you simply connect power across the Ground and Load inputs of the switch, see if you get it to light up with the power connection both forward and backwards. If it lights up only one way, then it's as expected for LEDs. If you can get it to light up both ways, then you do have something special.

y2j514 wrote: My illuminated switch has 3 poles on it instead of 2 - obviously. 1: Power 2: Load 3: Ground.

Just for fun facts, those are usually referred to as terminals, not poles. The switch has only one pole, as in Single Pole Single Throw (SPST). The number of poles indicate how many individual signals or power lines the switch can transfer. In this case, one.