I was wondering why ceiling lights don’t have some sort of
relay switch, in the light, where you could use something
like a garage door switch thin gage wire to turn a relay on and off.
This way you would only have to run a heavy power
line up to the ceiling, and not back and forth to wall
switches.
I want to add a light switches to my garage back
door and I didn’t want to buy all the wire. I
was looking at how a two switch light was wired.
It seems like it would save energy too.
Thanks.
$$$
Sure, you could do what you suggest. And, your electrical install costs would likely double.
Skimask is correct. It is not cost effective to do it just because.
If there was a desire for alternative functionality (home automation)
then cost isn’t an issue. I thought about having two relays, one would
take control away from the wall switch the second would turn the light
on or off. You come up with stuff like this when your kid won’t stop
turning off the light.
BTW - it won’t change you electricity consumption.
The wall switch handles full house current,
15 or 20 amps. With a relay, This could be a very small switch
like a door bell switch. Heavy duty wall switches
came down in price to a few dollars.
Ceiling light relays could have been developed
that handled the full current, and they would have
come down in price too, same as the wall switches did.
Relays have been around since Maxwell.
And this way you wouldn’t have big cables running through
all the walls, like battery cables, with full power.
We don’t run battery cable up to the steering
column, then back to the starter on a car.
The same principle applies to a house.
And the economics are very debatable.
GE had a system like that, called “touch plate” many years ago; low voltage switches driving latching relays either in a central box or on each fixture. It let you easily control the lights from multiple locations or set up scene controllers.
Nowadays, you find similar schemes in many building management systems, where a digital control signal is used to control a module on each fixture or in each room. Again, the benefit here is centralized control, scheduling, and monitoring. Useful in a big building where you can get a real-time report on energy usage or burned out bulbs. I have seen systems that use RS485, DALI, PLC, and now wireless schemes for the control side.
Not sure how useful or economical it would be for normal residential use…
/mike
Most of the cost of wiring is labor. This doesn’t change that: in fact it adds labor and parts cost. The savings of heavy gauge wiring cost is trivial.
Sorry if I’m hijacking the tread a bit.
We are now going in to a new generation of lights, leaving the E27 to the history books and installing fixed fixture LED lights. Will this change anything? I know my new bathroom lighting is a standard 240v LED driver with two rings of surface mounted LEDs (instead of a LED “bulb”). But as “modern” as that is, it’s still a very normal 240v circuit up to the last few centimeters.
Will the coming LED drivers change and have controller functions in the future? That way the “button on the wall” doesn’t need to be directly connected with the driver/ light fixture but instead send a signal to the driver? Will there be central drivers for multiple fixtures? (Hopefully with individual controllers) I know the benefits of transporting current over distances but still, we are talking 5-10w draw per fixture. Is running a 240v/10A cable over a physical breaking switch really the best way to do it now? :?
Okey, my rant is over. :oops: I think Stone is on the right track here but we are not there yet. And it will take time unless companies see it as a market. Just my 2 cent //Johan
Remote control of lighting goes back decades to the simple X-10 powerline controllers. No one really wanted them back then either (except the home automation junkies). I really think most people just want to turn individual lights on and off; even when automation is available, few people bother with it.
lyndon:
Remote control of lighting goes back decades to the simple X-10 powerline controllers. No one really wanted them back then either (except the home automation junkies). I really think most people just want to turn individual lights on and off; even when automation is available, few people bother with it.
And still people buy a coffeemaker that you can switch on with your cell phone :?: //Johan