[Informative] How to improve a light switch.

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AshaiRey
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[Informative] How to improve a light switch.

Post by AshaiRey »

How to improve a light switch.

The humble light switch can be used for so many more things then just switching ON and OFF.
I will describe here how to improve a light switch so it can do more then just one task.
In this howto i am talking about a normal light switch. A normal light switch has just one switch. But switches used in domotica often have one switchplate that actuate two push buttons. The first thing to do is to exchange the switch for a RF/z-wave/X10 switch that has the same appearence. In my example i will use an KaKu swith like this one ( klikaanklikuit.nl/shop/wandschakelaar-a ... awst-8800/)
Edited: A remark added from DJF3
The AWST-8800 cannot replace a light-switch without extra equipment. It's only a wireless transmitter that needs some equipment that listens to the RF signals sent and actually switches/dims the light.
This for example could be
- Receivers: http://www.klikaanklikuit.nl/shop/producten/ontvangers/
- Dimmers: http://www.klikaanklikuit.nl/shop/producten/dimmers
It still looks like a normal switch but it function completly different. Now we are ready to expand it functions.

If you look closer you will notice that switchplate will level each time you press it. This is due the fact it operates two small push buttons. I will make heavy use of this feature as you will see soon.

First i use this switch to turn the light ON and OFF
The light that it operate is a dimmer so the second function of this switch is controlling the dimmer. This is done by turning the light ON and then press ON again. This is possible because the switch plate will level again and releases the push button. Now the dimmer will go into a state that turns the light brighter till max and then dim it again till minimum, repeating the sequence till you press ON again. Till here it is still quite basic for most users

By now the switch has 2 functions but it can do better.
This switch is located near the headside of the bed so why not use it for turning the wakeup alarm OFF
I have setup my system like this ( domoticaforum.eu/viewtopic.php?f=26& ... lit=wakeup)
Lights go ON at 10%, after some time it goes up, soft music is added, music goes louder, a voice start to talk to me and in the end it will announce very loudly that its time to get up. You can imagine that you want to turn this OFF before your spouse wakes up too. If the wakeup alarm is ON and i press the OFF button on the switch then the wakeup alarm will be turned off.

That's three but can i do better.. Yes i can!
It can also be used to toggle your house alarm ON/OFF.
I am using a HomeSeer plugin called PowerTrigger. This plugin has a neat feature called X10 sequences. What you do is entering a sequence of events that will lead to a trigger. I my case i entered that the sequence must be pressing the switch OFF button twice within 3 seconds to trigger an event. This event will check if the alarm at groundlevel is ON. If not then the alarm will be set ON and an announcement is made throught the bedside speaker that it's now ON. If the alarm is actually already ON it will be turned OFF and again an announcement is made telling that the alarm is turned OFF now.

And that is four, toggling the house alarm ON/OFF.
All done with just one simple looking light switch

(It has also one extra bonus. The last two functions give me a +2 on the WAF scale, opening up the road to more experiments. :D )
I hope this will give you some ideas too.
Last edited by AshaiRey on Sun Dec 16, 2012 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bram
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Phaeton
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Re: [Informative] How to improve a light switch.

Post by Phaeton »

It does Bram, thanks for sharing. I'm sure a lot of people learn a lot from your post(s).
groeten,
Harry
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Re: [Informative] How to improve a light switch.

Post by DJF3 »

Love the article!
One thing you might have forgotten to document:
The AWST-8800 cannot replace a light-switch without extra equipment. It's only a wireless transmitter that needs some equipment that listens to the RF signals sent and actually switches/dims the light.
This for example could be
- Receivers: http://www.klikaanklikuit.nl/shop/producten/ontvangers/
- Dimmers: http://www.klikaanklikuit.nl/shop/producten/dimmers/

Cheers
DJ
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