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Neon Pilot Won't Light on Wall Switch

Is there a bulb in the socket, the neon pilots work by drawing a tiny amount of electricy through the load (the light bulb in the socket)

Reply to
Mark
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That depends on which kind of piloted switch it is.

If it's the kind which lights the toggle handle when the bulb is off so you can find the switch in dim light, then your answer is correct.

If it's the kind which lights the pilot when a light is on which you can't easily see from the switch location (Like an outdoor light.), then a connection to the neutral is required. A connection to ground would "work" in that case too, but wouldn't be to code, and if there were a GFCI feeding that circuit it could trip on even the few milliamps required to light the neon bulb.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Eh? Two wire still has hot and neutral...just no safety ground.

Reply to
Andy Hill

If this is one of the models than has the "optional" pilot, make sure that you have it set so the pilot is enabled.

Reply to
Andy Hill

Happy to help.

I've installed about a half dozen of those piloted switches in our home controlling things like attic and closet lights and well as on several outdoor lights with indoor switches.

I probably spent more on the switches than they'll ever save in electricity, but it's the thought that counts.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

He said a pilot light.

Reply to
The Real Tom

Dear God:

I know I don't talk to you often, and when I do it's usually to ask for things that really aren't very important. But this time, I really need your help.

Please, please don't let this thread turn into a 150 post count on how many wires it takes to light a bulb - neon or otherwise. I know, I know

- I'm asking a lot.

But ya know, after two weeks of discussion on how to use a sheet of metal which just happened to have 6 receptacles and some circuit breakers (or, 'overcurrent protection devices'), I just can't believe that you would torture me with the old neon light bulb discussion.

I do realize God - that your sense of humor is perhaps the most twisted in the universe.

But may I beg that you spare me on this one?

As Always,

Your Loving Human Creation. Matt

Reply to
Matt

Well, he never mentioned he didn't have neutral available...just that it was a "two wire" system.

Reply to
Andy Hill

I see God has forsaken me.

Again.

Alas, I will enter the frey.

We don't know what he has, in the box where the switch is located. The phrase: 'a 2 wire system' is meaningless, and can be interpreted anyway anyone wants to interpret it. For example, it could mean that he has 2 wires, and only 2 wires in the box where the switch is located. It could mean he has sheathed cabling with no ground in it. It could mean he lives in argentina, and his wires are really pipes, and he just got done shooting a boar for the evening meal.

Therefore, can we PLEASE CLOSE the discussion by all agreeing that if he does not have a hot and a neutral, in the box where the switch is located, he will not be able to have the kind of a switch where the little cute neon light stays on all the time? But that he will be able to use one of the switches that has a cute little neon light in it that lights when the switch is on, provided of course that he has a bulb in the fixture?

PLEASE?

Reply to
Matt

Yeah, I realized after i hit submit.

2 beers in, ya know.
Reply to
Matt

Well, to do my part to push this thread past the 50 post mark ---

Not quite. If there is no neutral in the box (a switchleg), then he will not be able to (a) have a neon glow all the time, and (b) will not be able to have a neon that is glowing when the switched conductor is energized, but (c) will be able to have a neon glow when the switched conductor is not energized (as long as there is a load).

Reply to
Andy Hill

We may be using differing definitions of what a "two wire system" is Frank.

It's generally used to say that 120 volt power distribution throughout the home takes place over two wires ("hot" and "neutral") without a third "ground" conductor running along with them.

Or, you could be using the term to tell us that there's only two wires inside the box the switch is going to be in, in which case one of the wires will be "hot" and the other will be going to the tip side of the light bulb socket(s). If there's no other wires in that box then you are in fact SOL. But, if there's a neutral (usually colored white) wire inside that box you should be OK connecting the third terminal of your piloted switch to it. (If the switch *doesn't* have three terminals on it we're still not on the same wavelength yet. .

Please make sure you know what you're about with this stuff, Frank; switch off the breaker or remove the fuse feeding that circuit before starting work, and seek experienced help if you aren't confident about doing it yourself.

HTH,

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

This is a new Leviton combo single-pole/pilot switch. Could the problem be because the house has an old two-wire system without a ground wire? Or is the unit defective? Help much appreciated! Frank

Reply to
frank1492

Obviously the neon bulb in the pilot light isn't going to light if it doesn't have a neutral / ground connection.

Reply to
Travis Jordan

It is the type that lights only when the switch is "on." So that explains it. Thanks very much! Frank

Reply to
frank1492

I suppose I should just "double clarify." No way I can use one of those with a two-wire system? Frank

Reply to
frank1492

That is correct. You need a neutral power connection.

Reply to
Travis Jordan

In the OP's case, it is a switched circuit - ie. 'hot' and 'load'.

Reply to
Travis Jordan

Neutral and ground are not the same. A two-wire system has a neutral, but lacks a ground. Hot and neutral are sufficient to operate a light bulb. Ground is not necessary for that purpose.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

Helloooo..... he *has* one.

(What do you think the two wires are, anyway?)

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

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