Author Topic: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch  (Read 3985 times)

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Offline Swainster

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #25 on: March 14, 2022, 03:37:49 am »
A young engineer that I hired back in the day is the founder of switchbot. They have been very successful in Japan so he's now doing very well for himself. Not bad for such a simple concept.
 

Offline MLXXXp

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #26 on: March 14, 2022, 09:50:56 pm »
Many (about 40) years ago we had a similar device for our Honeywell round thermostat. You removed the thermostat bezel and this battery operated box had a round cutout with a ring that clamped onto the thermostat dial. The ring was rotated by an electric motor. It had a time-of-day clock, so turned the thermostat into a programmable "setback" thermostat. There were also "up" and "down" buttons that allowed you to manually control the motor, to temporarily override the automatic settings.

It worked well and we used it for many years.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #27 on: March 14, 2022, 10:06:57 pm »
It says he's a mechanical engineering student. This is a mechanical solution to the problem and was probably fun to implement.
 
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Offline EPAIII

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #28 on: March 16, 2022, 06:12:27 am »
Three words:

Garage door opener.
Paul A.  -   SE Texas
And if you look REAL close at an analog signal,
You will find that it has discrete steps.
 

Online hans

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #29 on: March 17, 2022, 01:23:18 pm »
Trying to be positive, I'm going to assume this was a strictly learning exercise in mechanical design: https://www.instructables.com/Remote-Control-Light-Switch-1/

Well, looks like a great home automation learning project. It still has the wireless bits on it.. the only thing that's missing is a relay. Instead, he made his own relay with a servo and the existing switch mechanism.

Ideal for rental places or shared rooms where access to electrical wiring is tedious. When moving out, putting back some frontplates is much easier than putting back all the original electrical switches (not to mention you don't have to cut power for a couple of plates if you're careful, e.g. a shared circuit in the student house).

It's obviously not as nicely integrated, can't work without power supply, etc. But whatever, if it works..
 

Offline david77

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #30 on: March 17, 2022, 01:56:35 pm »
I think it's great. Of course from an EE point of view it's a silly bodge, but from the ME's view it's what he came up with. Isn't that the most important thing? The student came up with a solution to a problem, developed it and built it. That is certainly a good thing for someone wanting to be an engineer.

Btw. I bet that red button lets you switch the light on or off locally.
 

Offline madires

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #31 on: March 17, 2022, 02:07:39 pm »
At least he didn't use a 10kW three-phase motor. ;D However, the switch can't be operated manually anymore, which is a huge drawback. In case someone likes to control his lights remotely, there are plenty of COTS solutions available. Also more pleasing to the eye and SWMBO.

PS: I love my dumb light switches and their tactile response.
 

Offline david77

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #32 on: March 17, 2022, 02:33:27 pm »
I've put some of these in because I like the feel and sound so much:

https://www.thpg.de/drehschalter-wechsel-bakelit.html
 

Offline PlainName

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Re: Is this a joke? Remote-control light switch
« Reply #33 on: March 17, 2022, 04:46:24 pm »
They look like they'd be jolly useful when the old arthritis starts playing up  :-+

But not suffering that, maybe a normal switch is easier to jab than a knob to twist. Hopefully I'll be around long enough to find out...
 


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