Noisy Ceiling Cord Pull Switches

[PeterC]

er, grunt! plop!

[Huge]

After all, you can tell where it lands by the noise. :o)

(That's why we have a nightlight. That way you don't need to switch on a light, you can still see the loo and it doesn't destroy your night vision to find your way back to bed.)

[Huge]

Way too much information.

[Skipweasel]

Comes on as you pass it?

[Another John]

HA HA HA! 10/10!

Funny how common this problem is -- I also agree with the complaint. I have a couple of "quiet" ones (what's more, they work with one click, not a "tick-tock" or rtather "clunk-click" action). I just took the cover off one of them, but there's no maker's name on the inside. If you really want me to, I'll unscrew it and see if there's a name on the side faced to the ceiling.

John

[John]

I have just e-mailed MK Techical to ask why they are noisy.

I have been told (wait for it!!)

"The product that you have described will make a =91noise=92 when the pull cord is operated due to the mechanical mechanism inside, this coupled with the location ie mounted plasterboard on the ceiling will sound louder."

Amazing! Glad I didn't waste a postage stamp!

I will become obsessive and try switches in shops whenever I see them. In the meantime a swop with my loft switch is called for when it is light enough.

Incidentally - I have a transformer for LV lamps and a fan so a sensor / dimmer is not a simple choice.

[Jonathan]

This whole problem made me put all our bathroom switches outside the bathrooms when we re-wired. then I could have normal switches.

Jonathan

[Chris J Dixon]

But not necessarily ruled out. I use a Dimpull with my transformer-fed lights and extractor fan, and am now (at the risk of tempting fate) approaching seven years without any issues.

Chris

[Ian Jackson]

The problem is that, to prevent arcing, all switches need to have a good 'snap' action. Obviously, this causes the click. [Without the snap action, you are certain to get a lot more 'crackle and pop'.]

However, I reckon that it's not so much the contacts which make the noise, but rather the bits that limit the amount of travel of the switch. If so, then it should be possible to 'soften the blow', and thereby produce a relatively quiet switch. I have no doubt that someone has cracked this apparently insoluble problem - but who?

[Frank Erskine]

Not necessarily - you could use a mercury tilt switch (possibly actuated directly by the pullcord).

[Ian Jackson]

In message , Frank Erskine writes

Mercury? These days, in the home?

[Invisible Man]

Not that lethal stuff that as school kids we used to flick little balls of across the lab (when we got bored of playing with the asbestos mats).

Could go back to the asbestos cement disposal thread. When I was in the scouts we had loads of old asbestos cement left over from when the hut had been re-roofed. We would break bits off and put them on a wood fire. Used to explode in all directions. Great way of getting rid of it!

[The Medway Handyman]

Since its a bathroom shouldn't that be Part Pee?

[John Williamson]

So you don't use CFLs, then?

[Ian Jackson]

Haven't they changed their minds, and modern CFLs DON'T contain mercury?

[Skipweasel]

If it's Part Pee you need to get your prostate checked.

[John Williamson]

Not according to Wikipedia, but even ignoring such a reliable source, the way they work is by having an arc in a low pressure gas which generates UV light, which the phosphor turns into visible light. The only variable I'm aware of is the amount of mercury, which has been cut over the last few years.

LEDs don't contain mercury, and are about the same efficiency overall at the moment, and improving all the time. Incidentally, most of them work by having an ultraviolet LED illluminating a phosphor....

[Ian Jackson]

Well, you'd have thought that, with all this wonderful, modern technology, they'd have been able to solve the problem of noisy ceiling switches!

[John Williamson]

It could be done by using wiping contacts and a shock absorber at the end of travel, or just a shock absorber on the current butting contact design, but that'd cost more.....

Or an optical switch using an LED, a movable plate, a photocell and a relay. Same problem with the cost, then add in the standby power use.

Or a small, silent switch, and a relay hidden behind some soundproofing.

Or a motion sensor driving a relay or triac. But that might fall foul of rules requiring total isolation while you're changin the bulb.

The common link is an increase in cost and complication and a likely reduction in reliability.

The bottom line, as always, is "What do you want to do? And are you willing to pay more to do it better?" In the UK, the answer to the second part is, all too often, NO!

[John]

A micro-switch is quiet and can handle the power. All that is needed is a simple ratchet type mechanism to toggle it. I am really disappointed that the makers have made them so clunky.