remote control mains switch

Posted on Feb 6, 2014

As the only electronics engineer in my family and circle of friends, it is sometimes not possible to evade an appeal for help. This time the request came from a friendly elderly lady in a retirement home. In her room the light switch by the door and the pull cord above the bed operate the light fitting on the ceiling in the middle of the room. How

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ever, she would prefer that her standing lamp was operated by these switches instead, since she does not actually have a light fitting mounted on the ceiling. This standing lamp has an on/off switch in the power cord and is plugged into a power point. However, it stands rather far from the bed so that she always has to find her way in the dark. A wireless operated power point is not really a consideration, because it is just a matter of time before the remote is lost. Or maybe not Behold a feasible circuit. Buy a wireless power point and an enclosure that is big enough for the remote control and a small piece of prototyping board. On the proto-typing board build the circuit according to the accompanying schematic and (carefully) open the remote control and solder wires to the push buttons for ½on ½ and ½off ½.

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