Lighted switches w/ CFL or LED loads?

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First time in years I've bought lighted switches (Leviton, from Big Orange); they're marked "Not for use with LED of CFL bulbs". Does that really matter? The old neon-lit switches used the leakage through the incandescent lamp to make them light- CFLs don't have enough? LEDs?

The place I'm installing them doesn't get much use and still has a lot incandescent lamps so it shouldn't be a problem for a while, but maybe next year somebody goes and swaps out all the old lamps for LEDs.
 

PaulMmn

Senior Member
Location
Union, KY, USA
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EIT - Engineer in Training, Lafayette College
You need a switch plate with a built-in night-light. Weren't there some mentioned here that just slip over the switch (or was it a duplex outlet) and use spring pressure to grab onto the screw terminals on the device?

Do they make switches that need a hot lead just to make a night-light light?
 

GoldDigger

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Placerville, CA, USA
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You need a switch plate with a built-in night-light. Weren't there some mentioned here that just slip over the switch (or was it a duplex outlet) and use spring pressure to grab onto the screw terminals on the device?

Do they make switches that need a hot lead just to make a night-light light?
It is for duplex outlets only. The screw placement and energization on switches is not consistent enough to support that use.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 

infinity

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New Jersey
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Journeyman Electrician
That's pretty much what I expect.... and it's just a little extra light to find help find the switch :D.

Does some company make one with a neutral connection? That would solved the problem of of not having an incandescent type lamp in series with the lighted switch.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
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EC
You need a switch plate with a built-in night-light. Weren't there some mentioned here that just slip over the switch (or was it a duplex outlet) and use spring pressure to grab onto the screw terminals on the device?

I commented in that thread about the switch/receptacle night lights. With the receptacle night lights still in my head (that are always on) I was thinking about where they got the neutral from with the switch. Then the rusty gears started to turn in my mind and, DUH, HELLO! the night light is in series with the load just like any other switch with the light built in.

-Hal
 

PaulMmn

Senior Member
Location
Union, KY, USA
Occupation
EIT - Engineer in Training, Lafayette College
You need one of these. Of course, you have to have hot + neutral in the box!

pilot-large.jpg



There are some pretty pictures about lighted switches at https://willnicholes.com/cflswitches.htm
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
You need a switch plate with a built-in night-light. Weren't there some mentioned here that just slip over the switch (or was it a duplex outlet) and use spring pressure to grab onto the screw terminals on the device?
They would be the same as a lighted switch: bulb in parallel with switch, powered through load.
 

synchro

Senior Member
Location
Chicago, IL
Occupation
EE
Leviton has some with an LED light that needs a neutral (but then it doesn't rely on leakage current through a switch loop):

https://www.leviton.com/en/products/6526-w

The pilot light switches have been around for a while but they're the opposite of what you want for seeing the switch in the dark: the light is only ON when the switch is already turned on. They're most useful to confirm that a load is turned on that you can't readily see or have access to.
 
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