Quinetic switch review

Interesting devices. I've now got a 2-gang switch and two receivers - one for the ceiling light and one for the wall lights.

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I was pleased to find there is no delay whatsoever; I thought there might be a noticeable fraction of a second, but that isn't the case. So overall it does what it says on the tin, but there are some points for consideration. In particular, somehow I got the gangs out of synchronisation, so one was on when the top was pressed, the other on when the bottom was pressed! This might be due to turning on and off too quickly, or maybe an interfering signal confused the receiver.

Annoyingly, there is no through connection on the receiver for earth, so a crimp or block is needed if the light fitting has to be earthed. Secondly, as the switch came it was press the top to turn on the light, press bottom to switch off. This seems a bit strange in the UK, and, as far as I can see, the switch can't be mounted upside-down. The outer frame has "Quinetic" printed on it for a start, which would look a bit odd upside-down. However, the actual switch itself can be inverted in the outer frame, except that the metal fixing plate only goes on one way, and the switch might be loose if mounted upside-down. There is a way round this, as the switch sends an identical signal for on and off. To get the switch for top on or bottom on, or to get the gangs back in sync, make sure the lights are off, then take the switch out of range of the receiver, and set it the way you want it to be off. On returning, and in range, it should then work correctly.

Finally, if you are going to use the Quinetic switch to replace a wired switch faceplate screwed to a pattress you will need to purchase an adapter plate so the Quinetic switch can be screwed to the pattress.

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Reply to
Jeff Layman
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Can't see the powered switch receiver lasting 50 years.

Reply to
Andy Bennet

Nor will I, unless life expectancy suddenly increases to 120, so I'm not concerned.

But I wonder how well they are made? When testing had ended, and it was confirmed they worked ok, the electrician nailed the wiring to the joists with cable clips. With each blow of the hammer the lights flashed. That's not too surprising considering that the receiver uses a relay to switch the lights on. Are relays cheaper than triacs?

Reply to
Jeff Layman

I wouldn't think so, but relays don't care about the load (within ratings). Triac circuits are sensitive to LED/CFL types.

Owain

Reply to
spuorgelgoog

It's a bad design if ON and OFF codes are the same. Interference occurring during an ON or OFF would reverse subsequent switchings.

Reply to
Dave W

I'm not arguing, but how then do Quinetic use their Dimmer receivers to control the lights - Surely they use a triac? But it's interesting to note that the Dimmer receivers are rated at only 150w for leds (300w for other lighting), while the ordinary switches are rated at 1400w.

Reply to
Jeff Layman

possibly not a lot in it but no issues with inductive loads or getting killed when filament lamps blow. Relays everytime. I note they are doing dimming switches now so they will be triac based.

Reply to
Bob Minchin

On the other hand, they support multi-way switching so I'm not sure how else you could do it. If you've got three switches, and switch 1 sends "up", the controller doesn't know whether to turn on or off unless it knows the state of switches 2 and 3 (which it would have to store, as the switches are unpowered unless you're pressing one - and missing an event would make the stored state wrong). If every switch just sends "change" when it's pressed, multi-way switching works as expected without needing the controller to store the switch state. The function would be clearer if it was a push-button rather than a rocker switch (in fact there's a fob version that is), but they've obviously tried to make it look as much like a conventional switch as possible.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Humphrey

99% of modern electronics seems to work like this, no way to tell if you're turning something on or off. All you're sure of is that you are (trying to) change its state.
Reply to
Chris Green

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