Want to have a switch to isolate a complete floor's lighting

Deansplit · 23 Nov 2009

Hi

I have a 3 story Victorian home which has the kitchen on the ground floor and living rm on the 1st floor. Too many times I find I've done the cooking, walk upstairs to put the kids to bed/retire to the living rm etc and realise all the lights are left on downstairs!

Is there an ideal world where I can have a switch outside the living rm to switch off all lights on ground floor...... but..... if I happen to go downstairs and forget/not realise the lights have been switched off, that switching any light/a master switch, turns all the lights back on?

I think a 2 way switch that intercepts the ground floor circuit is the answer, but I'm not an electrician and wouldn't have a clue how to do it!

Thx

ban-all-sheds · 23 Nov 2009

You'd need some kind of home automation system to do that.

If you were able to put a switch into the lighting circuit before the first downstairs light you could then run a 3-core & earth strapper to another switch upstairs, but you'd then have a 2-way master, i.e. if you turned it off upstairs, and then went downstairs, you'd have to flick the downstairs master - you wouldn't be able to make it work the way you suggested with any light switch overriding the master.

The difficulty of the task depends on where you would want the downstairs master, where the cables run, the type of flooring you have, and your attitude to cutting chases in the walls and redecorating, but it wouldn't be impossible - you'll find a diagram for 2-way switching in the Wiki.

ericmark · 24 Nov 2009

The college I am at has a PIR and switch so you use a self returning switch with starts a timer and the PIR is connected to another terminal of same timer so while people are moving in the room lights will stay on but it will auto switch off once unoccupied.

However

these are easy way out Maplin sell the switches but they are no good for college as too easy to switch from auto setting.

However it will not work with energy saving lights and I realised my outside light with 60W bulb on at night only used more power than leaving a 8W energy saving lamp on 24/7 and since I expect whole idea is to save energy it may not work out!

The

Philips Occuswitch movement detector is likely better but I have not found a price.

This

from Screwfix Seems good but at £85.83 it's not cheap and the description is a bit vague and I am no way certain it would do the job.

So first how much would you consider worth spending to save the cost of a few lights left on?

ban-all-sheds · 24 Nov 2009

I've yet to encounter a PIR which works when you stop moving about.

bernardgreen · 24 Nov 2009

ban-all-sheds said:
I've yet to encounter a PIR which works when you stop moving about.

Set the "on time" setting to minimum and then about 4 seconds after movement stops the PIR will "work" and turn its output OFF

ban-all-sheds · 24 Nov 2009

How would that help?

AndyPRK · 24 Nov 2009

They have PIR's in the office I work at and are a PITA.

They work out of hours, and trigger the lights on for 15 mins or so.

So every 15mins you have to wave at them to turn the lights back on. A complete pain and waste of electricity to turn alot of flourecents back on.

If it was 45 mins in an office it would be ok.

One solution to the home problem would be a contactor with start and stop switches fitted both upstairs and downstairs, to control the lighting power to that floor. Don't know how you would make it look nice though.

Personally I would be worried if I had turned other stuff off other than lights.

RF Lighting · 24 Nov 2009

Get into the habit of switching lights off as you leave each room. Much cheaper, and less rewiring too.

mikhailfaradayski · 24 Nov 2009

Hi Deansplit,

Its all do-able, but at a cost which will far outweigh the cost of intermittently running the lamps overnight for a number of years.

Why don't you just fit low energy lamps and then not worry whether you've left the odd one on?

I'd bin the idea of indoor PIR lighting, as mentioned above, more hassle than its worth.

The 2way master switching would work, but i don't think it is without down-sides either. e.g. down master is in hallway, you are cooking in kitchen, kids/visitors are upstairs. Everytime somebody inadvertently operates the upstairs master, you are plunged into dark in the kitchen, they don't realise what happened, you have to go to down master to get light again. Not great.

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Want to have a switch to isolate a complete floor's lighting

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