Illuminated wall switch plate?

[Ejohnson]

Today; I was replacing my old light switches and I came across a single switch plate/cover that had two black wires leading into it, the switch plate was thicker than normal too 1/4". After breaking the plate cover open; I noticed it had a electroluminescent light panel inside it. Inside a swich plate cover? I've seen illuminated toggle switches that glow orange when flicked off because of a neon bulb in series with the lighting circuit, but not this!!! It is very old and doesn't work, or probably has never worked because I never noticed it when I moved in my house a few years ago. Has anyone ever seen this before? Are they still made anymore?

[John Grabowski]

I had one in my bedroom as a kid 40 something years ago. It was good for finding the switch in the dark and functioned as a not-too-bright nightlight. I don't know if they are still made or not.

[Abe]

I don't know. Have you searched online for one?

[Ejohnson]

I tried searching online, but I can't find any like this.

[Grandpa]

Something like this?:

[Jim Nugent]

"Switchplate requires no wiring and replaces your old switchplate quickly and easily. "

Wonder how this works- the OP's apparently had to be wired in.

[Cliff Hartle]

Glow in the dark?

[Abe]

Here's some stuff to get you started

[Jeff Wisnia]

I spotted that too and was curious about it. It was "but the matter of a moment" to squirt a question to the seller via email, wonder what I'll hear.

Maybe it's one of thos radioactive isotope activated things like the "EXIT" signs they used to use on airliners.

Jeff

[Jeff Wisnia]

And in barely more than another moment this reply was received:

Unfortunately, that item has been discontinued and you may be viewing it through a cached link. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you, Kari Weeden Customer Service

[e-mail]

800-761-5222 7:30a-4:00p PST Mon-Fri

Jeff

[JMagerl]

[RicodJour]

Oh, that's a _real_ safe design! Sheesh. Amazing.

R

[Regular Guy]

replying to Ejohnson, Regular Guy wrote: Yeah, electroluminescent (EL) light switch panels do exist and I used them on most of my single gang light switches in the house. The light switch cover had a 1" x 4" EL rectangle that was salmon colored with the light on, a soft green glow when the light was off and it was always cool to the touch. The two wires were connected across the two light switch screws in parallel with the power wires. It was very helpful with finding the light switch as night. The problem is over time they tend gradually darken. My panels lasted around 8 years before they would be barely noticeable even in the dark. Last month I went to my swap meet vendor to buy replacements ($3 each) and she just laughed, saying that they ran out years ago (though I'm quite sure I bought one from her in the 6 mo - 1 year window). Yesterday I replaced one hallway switch with a neon illuminated switch. It has a nice orange glow but I really miss the EL green which looked pretty cool. EL panels have a low current draw, probably on par with the neon bulb and are very safe. Still looking online for replacements but no luck so far.

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

---- Lots of snippage. ----

Here we go again with another ELEVEN YEAR OLD posts drug up by another HomeMoanersHub participant.