12 volt Home electrical system?

There is a whole line of switches made for these things. Actually, they are not strictly SPDT, but are momentary SPDT with a center off (the rest position). They have them in single, double, triple, etc gang. When my new church was built about 20 years ago, the wonderful architect designed 2 multi-purpose rooms, but didn't put in light switches. The switches, actually breakers, were far from the rooms. I can't tell you how many times, during a meeting, someone at the breaker panel, while turning off other light, would plunge our meeting into darkness. There were 2 circuits in each of the 2 rooms. I put in the GE relays and 2 switches in each of the 2 rooms. The circuit breakers were marked, "you touch, you die" .... well not actually. They were moved to the bottom of the breaker box. Anyway, I used the low voltage units because I had to snake the wires through concrete block walls, which is nearly impossible. So, the low voltage wires actually come down from the ceiling in an adjacent closet. I could have run conduit, but it would have been much more difficult. I have had 1 of the relays and 2 of the switches fail in 20 years. I think the switch failed because the relay was intermittent and people were pressing it harder and harder .... finally breaking the switch. BTW, I 1st saw this stuff in the 60s in a custom built house. Also, in the late 70s, I worked for a company that used them in all their offices for lighting.

Reply to
Art Todesco
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Thanks so much fellas!

by the way, I'm in Kansas... the wire is probably 14 gauge or whatever code is. The relay stuff was all that I was concerned with.... sorry for stating "16 gauge" when it's actually the usual romex.

Very glad to hear I don't have to replace my entire house electrical just to add a few can lights... From what I've gathered from all of your comments, I can just work around these relays and switches and just make new runs from my breaker box.

Art Todesco wrote:

Reply to
kellyj00

Talking about 16 gauge Romex, I was in Bangkok in the late 90s and in the hotel, I noted that the lights in the closets were wired with 16 gauge Romex. Of course, being non-US, it was 240 volts and was probably fused at 7 amps. I was shocked to see Romex in a large, downtown, many story building. But, I guess the codes are different there and most US cities.

Reply to
Art Todesco

Mark Lloyd wrote: ...

No, nothing at all weird or complicated other than quantum tunneling, wave/particle duality and relativity effects, the possibility of 20-odd "miniature/hidden" dimensions, etc., etc., etc., ... :)

Reply to
dpb
[snip]

I've seen the ones that work like 2 SPST switches with a common button, where you press on one end to close one switch, the other end to close the other switch. They may be designed with a common connection. Such a switch might be used with a 2-coil latching relay, for on and off. I don't know why you'd use one for a doorbell.

BTW, I have been considering such a switching circuit for my bedroom.

[snip]
Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Words are funny. In the academic world, "myth" retains its original meaning, but in the rest of the country, the word firmly means some story that is untrue.

I got started because my brother had a Lionel train.

Reply to
mm

How about "theory"? That's a word with very different meanings inside academia and out.

My father was an EE prof and had electrical junk around the house to play with.

Reply to
krw

I wished I had one of those. Also, model rockets.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

My grandmother, who I often stayed with, had a lot of lamp and electrical parts around. Anyway, I've always had a rational idea of the world, and a preference for things that make sense.

BTW, I'll probably never understand the [deleted] that most people seem to be obsessed with. It seems to have no connection with the world around us.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

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