Hi - I have just bought a house that will be 5 floors (including the cellar) - once renovated. As a result, I would like to have a switch by the door that would turn off ALL switches in the house (all electrics have to be replaced) - so that I don't have to climb x flights of stairs to do that..... Any ideas on the best way to do this - via the junction box or..... Cheers.
One switch for ALL lights
- Thread starter leighv
- Start date
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sounds like you wan't control of all lighting cuircuits
heres how i would do it.
20A mcb in non-rcd side of main CU
2.5mm T&E
20A DP switch by door
2.5mm T&E
4 way CU for lighting cuircuits (with a 6A breaker for each cuircuit)
heres how i would do it.
20A mcb in non-rcd side of main CU
2.5mm T&E
20A DP switch by door
2.5mm T&E
4 way CU for lighting cuircuits (with a 6A breaker for each cuircuit)
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Basically Leigh what Andy is saying if I read it right is -
Existing consumer unit (I suspect if the house is that old it will currently be a fuse box) to house a 20A breaker feeding a 20A (Double Pole) Switch by the entry door which in turn feeds a second consumer unit. The second consumer unit holds the 6A breakers for each of the lighting circuits in the house.
Sequence -
Mains >>> Fuse Box (20A Fuse) >>> 20A switch >>> Consumer unti feeding all lighting circuits
Voila - 20A switch by the door cuts off the second consumer unit and consequently all lights.
The danger with this in the future is that some bright spark decides to use the second consumer unit for something more than lights and runs the risk of overloading the 20A circuit and 2.5mm cable.
I assume you mean you want this doing during the re-furb as part of the re-wire. If that is the case then to keep the right side of building regulations the re-wire will need to be done by a qualified electrician and he will know the best way to do it.
Existing consumer unit (I suspect if the house is that old it will currently be a fuse box) to house a 20A breaker feeding a 20A (Double Pole) Switch by the entry door which in turn feeds a second consumer unit. The second consumer unit holds the 6A breakers for each of the lighting circuits in the house.
Sequence -
Mains >>> Fuse Box (20A Fuse) >>> 20A switch >>> Consumer unti feeding all lighting circuits
Voila - 20A switch by the door cuts off the second consumer unit and consequently all lights.
The danger with this in the future is that some bright spark decides to use the second consumer unit for something more than lights and runs the risk of overloading the 20A circuit and 2.5mm cable.
I assume you mean you want this doing during the re-furb as part of the re-wire. If that is the case then to keep the right side of building regulations the re-wire will need to be done by a qualified electrician and he will know the best way to do it.
Why have the 20A switch? What's wrong with using the incomer in the second CU?Nijinski001 said:
That doesn't make sense - if it's 2.5mm² cable on a 20A breaker it can't be overloaded as the breaker will trip before that happens.
Since when?
Hi Ban
That would mean having the second CU next to the entry door. Not always practical.
Good point. I wasn't thinking straight.
Surely to qualify under part P and have installation certificate issued etc?
Ban all Sheds said:
That would mean having the second CU next to the entry door. Not always practical.
Ban all sheds said:
Good point. I wasn't thinking straight.
Surely to qualify under part P and have installation certificate issued etc?
Good point. I wasn't thinking straight.Nijinski001 said:
Err... what about the notify-LABC-in-advance procedure for people unable to self-certify?
And then paying LABC an extertionate fee for coming and saying er...... okay, Why not just get a qualified spark to do the job properly and certify it.
That's a totally different argument from saying "to keep the right side of building regulations the re-wire will need to be done by a qualified electrician"
if you are just wanting to make sure all the lights go off/on as you leave/enter the premises then a cheaper option to the rewire option may be home automation. X10 units are very cheap these days and utilise the existing wiring to send signals to control units in your case if just pendants then it is simplicity itself as you can purchase plug in lampholders that go between the existing lampholder and the lamp.leighv said:
then a controller by the door can switch all the lights off together.
one advantage of automation is the ability to program the lights to come on in sequence when you are away on holiday making the house looked lived in. have a look here for ideas.
www.simplyautomate.com
My understanding of your requirement is that you want to be able to turn on and off the various lights separately, as normal, but have some kind of master switch to ensure all is off at once.
Sure you could set something up to remove the power from everywhere at once, but then, next time you turned it back on again, you'd have the same pattern of lights on and off as before.
If that's what you're looking for, then fine. But you should be able to find a controller that you feed all the cables in, which can be programmed to control the lights from both individual and master switch.
Try a few Web searches, see what comes up.
Sure you could set something up to remove the power from everywhere at once, but then, next time you turned it back on again, you'd have the same pattern of lights on and off as before.
If that's what you're looking for, then fine. But you should be able to find a controller that you feed all the cables in, which can be programmed to control the lights from both individual and master switch.
Try a few Web searches, see what comes up.
Is there a system that uses normal-looking light switches, which are in fact wired normally, that can be connected via bellwire or alarm cable to a central control panel? Then inside every switch could be a contactor which allows remote switching from control panel, as well as local switching. In fact, you could also have an upgrade to RF remotes which send signals back to the control panel then to the switches.
Oops i started by asking "is there a product that . . ." and ended up in dream land . . . sorry! Does such a system exist? If not, would there be a market for it?
Oops i started by asking "is there a product that . . ." and ended up in dream land . . . sorry! Does such a system exist? If not, would there be a market for it?
B
breezer
if you think about it you would have to have 2 relays / switch
one relay (1) would have to be wired as in 2 way lighting
the other (2) would have to break the supply to the light
reason is: 1 couldd turn the lights on if they were off and off if they are on
how ever if you had a central switch it would then need to operate 2 to make sure all lights go off, if it only operated 1 then any lights on would go off, BUT any lights that were off would go on
if you had just 1 relay across each switch then it could only turn it on, but if the light was localy switched on it could not switch it off
I was in a house last week, and each room has a "control panel" that turns the lights on + up/down, piped music into each room and volume of said music. it was all wired this way at first fix, since afik its the only way
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only practace non expensive way would be to send the supply of each lighting mcb through a contactor, fed all contators from one supply and switch the supply to the contactors.
only thing is what happens at night when you want to go to the bathroom, no lights
one relay (1) would have to be wired as in 2 way lighting
the other (2) would have to break the supply to the light
reason is: 1 couldd turn the lights on if they were off and off if they are on
how ever if you had a central switch it would then need to operate 2 to make sure all lights go off, if it only operated 1 then any lights on would go off, BUT any lights that were off would go on
if you had just 1 relay across each switch then it could only turn it on, but if the light was localy switched on it could not switch it off
I was in a house last week, and each room has a "control panel" that turns the lights on + up/down, piped music into each room and volume of said music. it was all wired this way at first fix, since afik its the only way
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only practace non expensive way would be to send the supply of each lighting mcb through a contactor, fed all contators from one supply and switch the supply to the contactors.
only thing is what happens at night when you want to go to the bathroom, no lights
Could you not just have one solenoid with reversible polarity, thus reversible direction, one way throws the switch off, one way throws it back on.
If wired like this, the switch send a signal back to the panel telling it when it is switched on. Then it would know which lights are on and which are off! If it would work that is!
If wired like this, the switch send a signal back to the panel telling it when it is switched on. Then it would know which lights are on and which are off! If it would work that is!
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