Specialty contacts for circuit in a sliding door..

[BretHeilig]

Hi,

I'm trying to build a very unusual sliding door which will have some working lights in it. In order to get electricity into the door, which is going to move about 2 feet laterally (not swinging) anytime it is opened or closed, I assume I'll need some kind of brush contactor, or freely pivoting connector, or something that can safely control for that movement.

All other things being equal, I'd like for the construction to be invisible, ie for a fairly close observation to be unable to tell how I got working power into the door.

Does anyone have any products or parts they'd recommend for this? For safety's sake, I was going to do the whole thing at 12Vac, but that's not hard and fast. Thanks for any advice!


Bret

 

[jumper]

I am not sure what you are asking. What happens when the door is opened or closed?

 

[BretHeilig]

The door slides two feet to the right when it is opened, and two feet back to the left when closed. The problem is what happens to the wiring when I do that; if it isn't managed, it could pinch or rip out of a socket, etc.

I could easily just leave a lot of slack in a cavity somewhere, but that seems like it will fail somehow before long.

 

[jumper]

So you have a pocket door. Right?

Do want the lights to come on when its open and to go off when its closed?:?

Or something else?

 

[hillbilly1]

I think the OP is saying the lights are in the door its self, probably a translucent glass door with a frame, a cord reel would be one way, but not very asthetic or durable if door is used frequently, probably some sort of a trolley system with rolling contacts. Nothing comes to mind at this moment of where you can find what you need.

 

[Jraef]

How much power are we talking about and at what voltage? There are non-contact transmission devices but they are relatively low power. If all you are doing is lighting up some LEDs though, it may work.

 

[jumper]

I was thinking of something real low tech like batteries and a door switch depending on the app and duration.

 

[Little Bill]

How much power are we talking about and at what voltage? There are non-contact transmission devices but they are relatively low power. If all you are doing is lighting up some LEDs though, it may work.

The OP said he was thinking about 12VAC

 

[John120/240]

Not exactly sure how this would work, but I imagine two copper strips in the

door header and two corresponding strips in the door top. Similar to a light

lift gizmo.

 

[iMuse97]

Not exactly sure how this would work, but I imagine two copper strips in the

door header and two corresponding strips in the door top. Similar to a light

lift gizmo.

That's what I would envision, also. I suppose a crane festoon is out of the question. http://www.jherbertcorp.com/electric-festoon-1.gif jk.

Other than that, I have no ideas yet. This is an application that can be done from an engineering perspective, but I can't say I've seen it done. You may have to go the custom route, ie. many Benjamins, and custom fabrication, if money is no object.

 

[hillbilly1]

Since it's only 2', curly cord would be an option, but then again not very asthetic. Most commercial sliders are at least 3' though. Is this a residential application? If it is commercial the ADA will require it to open wider.

 

[Jraef]

Not likely to last long. The smallest amount of corrosion will interfere with power delivery, and copper corrodes very easily. It would require rigorous maintenance.

There are systems for overhead cranes called duct-o-wire or something like that, but not cheap and meant for higher power levels.

There is a wireless system from a company called Balluff that is intended to provide power for things like sensors on rotating equipment. I think it can handle something like 180ma at 24V across a distance of 2mm, but it's not a continuous strip, it's a sender and receiver system. Depending on what you want to do however, you could have a storage capacitor or battery on-board the slider and when the door is closed (and/or fully open) you could be recharging the storage system.

 

[Open Neutral]

There are alarm contacts for sliding doors. They could likely handle the few watts needed. But the lamps would work only with the door closed...

 

[handy10]

The tracks on a model train seem to be doing the kind of thing that needs to be done. Since the power required has not been specified it is not clear if such a system would provide enough. Inventing something to work sounds like an interesting challenge; installing the invention sounds like an invitation for too much liability.

 

[steve66]

Normally I'd say the whole thing has to be UL listed (or equivalent). With 12 volts, shock shouldn't be a problem, but sparks might still be an issue. Maybe if you had a listed low voltage source it might pass muster.

wonder if there are any track lighting connectors that would slide very well???

 

[nhfire77]

There are alarm contacts for sliding doors. They could likely handle the few watts needed. But the lamps would work only with the door closed...

You can get NC burg contacts. When the door is shut the circuit is open. It could control a relay to separate low/line voltage safely. Of course you would need to prewire to a small control box.

 

[hurk27]

pulley's and a falling weight in the wall is one way, or a long stroke spring in place of the weight for a non-falling system, but for the correct way would require some photos of the door and what your trying to do.