"Floating" two-way switch.

[securespark]

Hello everybody

I am wanting to do exactly what my customers do all the time - namely alter the electrical installation after decoration......

I want to install a circuit for a bedside light in two rooms - one is my 4 yo's (room A) and one is for my second child next door (room B).

Each light is to have two-way switching (one near bed and one near door).

But due to new decor, I cannot fit swiches/ sockets for the bedside lights next to the beds as these walls are solid.

I propose to fit sockets for the lights in a stud wall a few feet away from each bed (the wall dividing bedrooms A & B).

One of the switches for each light can also be mounted in a plasterboard wall adjacent to the door without disturbance, but the switches adjacent to the bed cannot be flush-mounted, again due to solid walls.

I would like to fit a "klick" outlet into the dividing stud wall for each of these switches (ie 4 terminal outlet wired to C, L1 & L2, and cpc) and run a "floating switch" (ie one connected to the outlet via flex) from it.

I have seen two-way floating switches connected with flex before, but are they still available?

I know wireless switches are available (tlc easySWITCH), but don't fancy anything surface-mounted. Plus, in this instance, it would work out very expensive to provide an easySWITCH soln.

Any ideas?

 

[plugwash]

using a klick outlet for a 2 way switch seems a bit dodgy to me
after all what if someone plugs it into a powered outlet

with that warning out of the way if you can't find a supplier you could do it yourself with 4 core mains flex (unfortunately with maplin no longer selling it you may need to by a whole reel from a supplier like cpc this ) and a metalclad switch using a compression gland to secure the flex

another thing have you considered pull cords?

 

[securespark]

Yes. Personally, I hate them.

Considering changing my name to ban-all-pullcords.

 

[securespark]

Could the same thing be done with a relay and push to make switches?

In France, they use "Auto-alimentation" relays to switch lights from multiple locations....

 

[plugwash]

if you have reasonable electronics experiance you coudl build something with a d type flip flop a capacitor a resistor a transistor and a relay to give push on push off switching

 

[ban-all-sheds]

if you have reasonable electronics experiance you coudl build something with a d type flip flop a capacitor a resistor a transistor and a relay to give push on push off switching

Just watch the back EMF from the relay coil when you switch it off - could b*gg*r up the transistor.


Other ideas - if you can't find a 2-way torpedo switch, could you improvise one with a 2-way architrave switch and a small ABS box?

And if you don't mind black (assuming it can be placed reasonably out of sight), something like the Bulgin SA2367/2368 4-pin plug/socket pair could be used on the wall, as that'd ensure that the little blighters^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hdarlings couldn't plug the lamp in anywhere else in the house.

 

[plugwash]

yes you need a diode to prtect from back emf

 

[securespark]

My electronics is limited, but instead of loads of complicated components, can't the job be done with a simple relay and push to make momentary switches?

Trouble is these ptm switches (or one at least) would need to be SELV. Like the Friedland Pear D647 on a cord. see http://www.h-e.nl/index.php

Sorry it's netherlands - it was the quickest hit on google!!

Who can wire a relay with one hand behind their back while having a sl*sh???

 

[plugwash]

you could do it with 2 push switches and a relay

push on push off would be near impoosible in relays though

 

[securespark]

But somehow the French manage it, with their Auto-alimentation relays (still not quite sure what that means......)

A literal translation is "self-feeding"

Adam - as a fellow frog-garbler, what do you think?

 

[plugwash]

on button and off button is easy with a relay that has changeover contacts (prefereablly 2 sets so you can isolate controls and outputs)

one button that toggles it is much harder

 

[breezer]

one button that toggles it is much harder

I did it once, and do you think i can remember how?................no chance

you could always have a selv on / off switch (or even a elv on off switch) directly operating a 12 v relay which in turn operates the lights, and you would be best off with 2 diodes (4001) one in series with the other,(commonly called ID 10 T diode) so that you wont connect it the wrong way round, of course we are all presuming the supply is DC

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Maybe I'm being thick, but I'm struggling to understand how SELV, or relays, or flip-flops are an answer to the basic question of how to get 2-way switching into these rooms without ripping up the walls....

 

[breezer]

that's the trouble with these forums, we all quite often go off topic.

since you don't like pull cords

how about a stick and ordainairy switch on the ceiling?

 

[plugwash]

a floating elv switch has a lot less problems than a floating mains switch

i think the best way is to do the 2 way wiring in elv and then have a relay (in an adaptable box) to switch the lights

then you can use miniture switches and conect them with din sockets which will give a much neater job than tring to do floating mains switches