Low-voltage switch circuit.

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Wet_Boots

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I've seen one or two homes that had wall switches without any line voltage in them. I'm not sure what history would lead to someone having a rack of relays in the basement utility room sending power to ceiling lamps.

One set of switches I recall involved something more practical, and that's why I'm posting this. These switches were controlling lights in and around a swimming pool, but with all the power coming from the pump room in the pool cabana. I remember these switches weren't controlling relays, but were closing a secondary circuit in some sort of transformer arrangement that I can't recall. I'm pretty sure the closed switch in the secondary circuit made for an increased magnetic field that was used to close contacts, so the function was like a relay, only there was no specific coil with a voltage rating needed to operate it.

Any of this ring a bell? I rather liked the simplicity of the concept. I saw a data sheet for these low-voltage (or nearly "no-voltage") switching devices, but I just can't remember enough to locate them again.
 

JWelectric

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Low voltage switching of lights was a big thing years ago. What I have dealt with had a master control located in the master bedroom that controlled all lights.

What you seem to be describing at the pool is X10 switches.
http://x10pro-usa.com/
 

Wet_Boots

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Definitely not X10. Much more low-tech. Strictly transformer wiring and magnetism. The control circuit wasn't labeled as having any particular voltage or current. It was a UL-listed device, and not a home-brew circuit.

I should add that this particular device could have predated the transistor - it was that low-tech
 
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DonL

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Must be FM

Definitely not X10. Much more low-tech. Strictly transformer wiring and magnetism. The control circuit wasn't labeled as having any particular voltage or current. It was a UL-listed device, and not a home-brew circuit.


Was it Magnetism or Hypnotism ?


Hypnotism.jpg


http://www.astrologynspiritualism.com/articles_hypnosis.html



The only system that I have seen like that used SCR's and Flux capacitors.
 
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Wet_Boots

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I think the circuit diagram would look a bit like two transformers in a series connection, with the low-voltage switch interrupting the interconnection between transformers. I'm sure it's something more subtle, though. There might be a parallel winding involved.
 

DonL

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I think the circuit diagram would look a bit like two transformers in a series connection, with the low-voltage switch interrupting the interconnection between transformers. I'm sure it's something more subtle, though. There might be a parallel winding involved.



It may have been like these,

http://www.douglaslightingcontrol.com/specifications

Would be great for a Smart Home.


Have Fun.
 

Wet_Boots

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It must be something that was always obscure. I don't even remember how I located a diagram of its inner workings, in pre-internet days. I don't think it used anything but wires and magnetism to accomplish the task, and it did so without step-down transformers and relays.
 

ActionDave

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I think the circuit diagram would look a bit like two transformers in a series connection, with the low-voltage switch interrupting the interconnection between transformers.....

.....I don't think it used anything but wires and magnetism to accomplish the task, and it did so without step-down transformers and relays.
So which is it?
 

Wet_Boots

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My memories just can't quite connect the dots. Since there was supposedly very little power/voltage in the control wires, I think that probably rules out a circuit where you can see a turns ratio on a magnetic core. And yet, closing the circuit represented by the control wires would alter a magnetic field enough to open and close power contacts.

You see the circuit diagram, and you get it, is about all I can add. And that even goes for my grudgingly obtained schooling in magnetics, where a weber is a charcoal grill, and a henry is the home run king.
 

ActionDave

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Sounds like an old R-7 relay system. 24V to switch boxes and remote latching relays to control the lights. Great system. Rugged, reliable, and flexible.
 

DonL

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Some of the newer systems are pretty neat.

If you run DC you can go off grid without the need of inverters.

With all of the Smart Meters used now a days, Remote controlling over the internet is getting popular.


Have Fun.
 

Wet_Boots

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A google search is not much use. Too much product out there accomplishing the same task with modern electronics. I might someday find an invoice that gives me the location where these switching units are probably still in place, and I might request a peek at them.
 

DonL

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Here we are in agreement and one of the best on the market. I own two of them, one charcoal the other gas


I was very disappointed in the new Weber grills.

The last one that I bought was made in China and you could tell it, compared to the old stuff.

It cost over $100 and the other knockoffs of the same design were $40, but I bit the bullet and got the Weber Kettle.


They were probably both made in the same China factory.
 

Cwhyu2

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Two words, Touch plate. Look it up I found it and I have worked them and was a PITA
 
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