wireless 3 and 4-way switches

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
OK I know we have some gurus on fancy electrical gizmos here.

I am having a hard time with what seems to me a very simple problem.
I need a set of light switches that communicate via RF or whatever wireless telemetry, to act as a 4-way switch (3 switches).
I don't need them to be dimmable, I would rather not mess w/ Z-wave or anything else fancy, especially if a controller is required all the time. I just want simple switches.

This seems pretty straightforward, but for some reason is hard to find. Seems everything either requires wiring, or are expensive z-wave/X-10/ part of a fancy system etc.
Any suggestions/pointers?

If it really matters, the situation is that I'm finishing part of my basement, and need a switch at top of stairs & 2 down at bottom in different places. There is already a switch at the top of the stairs and wire going down there, I can hook up a circuit, but it is only typical 14/2 Romex and runs through the wall in a way that it cannot be easily replaced. So basically I can get power to that switch but use it as a carrier to another. My plan is for one at the bottom to be the Master that is connected to the lights, and other two are "companions".
 
No input here sorry, but i am anxiously awaiting an answer. Our kitchen lightswitch is in an absolutly terrible location on the opposite side of the kitchen from where it needs to be, and it would require an immense amount of work to put it where it needs to be.
 
redneckjeep87 said:
No input here sorry, but i am anxiously awaiting an answer. Our kitchen lightswitch is in an absolutly terrible location on the opposite side of the kitchen from where it needs to be, and it would require an immense amount of work to put it where it needs to be.
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If you just need to "move" a single light switch, there some really cool self-powered switches you can add, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-WSS0S-P0W-Wireless-Self-Powered-Remote/dp/B002NU6MFW

A little pricy but the setup couldn't be easier.
 
Having been a maintenance electrician for the past 8 years, and a heavy commercial/industrial construction electrician for the 8 before that, I'd have called bullshit on a wireless switch if you hadn't provided a link to one already. This is news to me, but I'm definitely going to look into it further.
 
They've actually been around for years, just not quite so seamlessly integrated.
Back in '99 we had one at work that was basically a battery-powered switch you mounted wherever you wanted on the wall, it controlled an outlet you plugged into another outlet.
 
Just to be clear, in my case I don't need them to be self-powered or battery operated, just not require 3-wire connection between the switches.
I could even get away w/ 2-wire.
 
13bullets said:
Having been a maintenance electrician for the past 8 years, and a heavy commercial/industrial construction electrician for the 8 before that, I'd have called bullshit on a wireless switch if you hadn't provided a link to one already. This is news to me, but I'm definitely going to look into it further.
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You can buy a wall switch or a receptacle that you can control from your phone or wirelessly from a wall switch on the other end of the house.

The last commercial office upfit I did, most of the wall switches were connected to cat 6.
 
shawn said:
How does that not work for your application? Says "can be used for 3 way solution" right in the description.

If you're looking to expand, maybe do Z-wave and just use a scene controller to get the same effect.
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Yes, that would work, but it's pretty expensive b/c of the fancy "no power" feature (the tech behind that is pretty neat btw), I think Leviton has to pay off it's investment in EnOcean.... Buying 3-4 of those will cost a small fortune. It's just really overkill when I already have access to power. If nothing else comes up I'll either do that one or Z-wave, it's just overkill here and alot more expensive. Plus I really don't want to have to have a separate controller running all the time just for some light switches that I have no need to do fancy remote controlling etc for.

I'm most just venting, being a frustrated grumpy old man because what I'm looking for is really quite a technically simple device that would be very easy and inexpensive to design and I'd think should be available for about $20-25, yet the market seems to be only much more expensive and complicated things where you're paying for R&D recuperation, licensing for some fancy IP, etc.
 
Back in the '50s GE had a system where there was a relay at each light fixture. There could be an unlimited number of control switches at different locations with just two conductors connecting each switch. In the master bedroom there was one switch with a selector control. You could control every light in the house from the bed. There was also multiple switches in several rooms. I got to look through an old box of parts to see if I still have a relay with diagram.
 
Lots of new lighting actually has addressable switches and fixtures. Quite a neat thing and eliminates messy clumsy contactors that can be a nightmare on high quantity zones. It hurts my soul as much as MC cable as a raised in the field electrician but its true.


@13bullets the underlying tech is a basic transmitter and receiver. Traditionally that were battery powered like Dave said. The newer designs (and they are not bleeding edge by any means) use a simple piezo in the switch activated by the position change to power the "transmitter".

Now an interesting side note, the one and only system Ive played with hands on. If a man was determined to, he could play 'light switch strobe light' like a child and end up with the switch in the wrong position. Essentially at the fixture it was just a discrete "change of position" signal so if you got ahead of the action you could end up with a single pole switch reversing "polarity"
 
RatLabGuy said:
fyi here is a much cheaper alternative if you're willing to replace a battery every now and again
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Heath-Ze...gclid=CL2PkuSf4sMCFaRi7Aodyz4AMA&gclsrc=aw.ds
Click to expand...
perfect! The other one was wayyyyyyy to expensive to be lazy and walk to the wrong side of the kitchen to turn the lights on. Hmmm might be able to install one to control the lights in the shop from the backdoor from when i forget to turn them off....but the wife might mess with me if i do that lol
 
redneckjeep87 said:
perfect! The other one was wayyyyyyy to expensive to be lazy and walk to the wrong side of the kitchen to turn the lights on. Hmmm might be able to install one to control the lights in the shop from the backdoor from when i forget to turn them off....but the wife might mess with me if i do that lol
Click to expand...

One note - apparently those may not be compatible w/ all fluorescent lights.
 
RatLabGuy said:
One note - apparently those may not be compatible w/ all fluorescent lights.
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Luckily for us, that's only a problem for hippies.

BTW, we had an LED fixture blow. The. Fuck. Up. At work on Friday. It was about a year old.
 
shawn said:
Luckily for us, that's only a problem for hippies.

BTW, we had an LED fixture blow. The. Fuck. Up. At work on Friday. It was about a year old.
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Like, explode? Thats... interesting.
 
Oh yeah, blew broken glass and shit all over the place.
 
So what happened - driver fail and crank too much voltage through the LED? That's freaky.
 
It blew the fuck up.

I thought I was pretty clear about that.
 
moldman05 said:
Back in the '50s GE had a system where there was a relay at each light fixture. There could be an unlimited number of control switches at different locations with just two conductors connecting each switch. In the master bedroom there was one switch with a selector control. You could control every light in the house from the bed. There was also multiple switches in several rooms. I got to look through an old box of parts to see if I still have a relay with diagram.
Click to expand...
We have this in my mother's house built in mid 70s. All of the wall switches are low voltage that run back to a relay panel. The relay is then run to each light. All lights can be controlled by a matter rotary with in the master bed room. Is a really cool system
 
Buddy of mine does maintenance work for high end houses in the area. He was cleaning gutters on a house that had low voltage switches etc, somehow the gutters became energized. You can guesswhat ensued, be finally figured it out lol
 
Will this work? 7.99 at ollies. As seen on tv


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No - that controls a plug you have on the wall.
But - definitely good to know. Thats pretty cheap. We have an Ollies here nearby, curious if they have them too.
 
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