Lighted 4-way Toggle Switch?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I can't find one either. Curious: are you looking for a switch lit when the load is on or off?

I'm wondering if you could make do with a 4-way toggle switch and a separate light.

I'm also wondering how to wire a light on a 4-way. It seems two bulbs would be required.
 
It would be interesting to see how one was made.
I think you'd need some electronics in the 4-way switch.
To work with LED's it probably would need to sense a small current on either traveler.
It would need a neutral connection as older lighted switches that get their power thru the load make newer bulbs blink.
 
Many years ago, I had a customer who wanted a way to know whether the light in the detached garage was on or off. There were 3-way switches in the house and the garage. I remembered seeing a simple circuit for doing this in Popular Electronics years before that.

It consisted of two 100k resistors in series, connected across the two travelers, with one wire of an NE-2 bulb connected to the joint between the two resistors, and the other wire to the neutral. It could be wired at either switch, one at both switches, or even at a 4-way.

It works because, when the light is off, the voltage at the point between the resistors is 60v, too low to fire the neon bulb. When the garage light is on, the neon bulb sees the full 120v (but current-limited by one resistor). If the light bulb burns out, the neon bulb will stay lit.
 
LarryFine said:
... Curious: are you looking for a switch lit when the load is on or off? ...
Click to expand...
It's for a stairway. I'd like the switch to light up when the ceiling light is off. (or burned out)
If it's also on when the ceiling light is on, that's okay but not my preference.

LarryFine said:
I'm also wondering how to wire a light on a 4-way. It seems two bulbs would be required.
Click to expand...
The simplest approach would be two lamps in the toggle handle, each wired from one traveler to the white. (or bootleg white)

Joethemechanic said:
I wonder if you could do it with a small current transformer and a LED
Click to expand...
There are many things I could do. What I'm hoping to do is simply replace an unlighted toggle switch with a lighted one, not initiate another research & development project.
 
LarryFine said:
... It works because, when the light is off, the voltage at the point between the resistors is 60v, too low to fire the neon bulb. When the garage light is on, the neon bulb sees the full 120v (but current-limited by one resistor). If the light bulb burns out, the neon bulb will stay lit.
Click to expand...
I wonder if that would still work with one small LED bulb that contains a switch-mode power supply.
 
drcampbell said:
It's for a stairway. I'd like the switch to light up when the ceiling light is off. (or burned out)
If it's also on when the ceiling light is on, that's okay but not my preference.
Click to expand...
A small light that will glow when in series with the load will work by wiring it between the travelers.

The part you'll need to do is make it visible. Perhaps one will glow through the plate or the hole.
 
drcampbell said:
I wonder if that would still work with one small LED bulb that contains a switch-mode power supply.
Click to expand...
As long as it won't make the load light up when in series with it.

Any small 120v light that will fit within the switch box will work.
 
LarryFine said:
As long as it won't make the load light up when in series with it. ...
Click to expand...
If an ordinary LED lightbulb draws less than 100mA, (at full brightness) that's an important question.

To clarify, this isn't a remote indicator or a burned-out-bulb indicator. It's just a switch in a stairway, which I'd like to be able to find in the dark without groping. Ideally, it would just light up when it's dark and go out when it's light. A photocell would suffice; it doesn't need to know or care what the circuit passing through it is doing.
 
Glow in the dark device plate maybe? You can also get glow in the dark paint at micheals... For the toggle... Ive been thinking about a glow in the dark toliet seat, but just between us here, i could care less about misfires...
They also have those glow in the dark stars and other silly stickers that you cant see in light..
 
Well, I have my answer: They probably don't exist. Or if they do, this entire crowd can't find them, either.
(welcome to the Information Age, where there's more raw information arriving than ever before, and less useful knowledge)

rambojoe said:
... They also have those glow in the dark stars and other silly stickers that you cant see in light..
Click to expand...
For the same reason I don't want to install a decorator-style switch -- architectural consistency -- I also don't want it to look like a nine-year-old's school notebook.
 
drcampbell said:
If an ordinary LED lightbulb draws less than 100mA, (at full brightness) that's an important question.
Click to expand...
An NE-2 in series with a 100k resistor would pass 1.2 ma at the most on 120v.

Wire the pair between the travelers and put it behind a 1/8" hole in the plate.
 
LarryFine said:
An NE-2 in series with a 100k resistor would pass 1.2 ma at the most on 120v.

Wire the pair between the travelers and put it behind a 1/8" hole in the plate.
Click to expand...

The following proposal would be in addition to placing a light across the travellers as Larry mentioned above:
Put a 4-way (instead of a 3-way) on the supply end of the circuit, and place a shunt resistor (or other load) between the otherwise unused terminal of this 4-way and the neutral. This would place a shunt load across the light being switched, but only when it should be off, thereby reducing the current through it even further.
 
My proposed configuration above would only be applicable with an LED light that might glow at low current levels. Additional shunt loading certainly wouldn't be necessary with an incandescent.
 
drcampbell said:
Well, I have my answer: They probably don't exist. Or if they do, this entire crowd can't find them, either.
(welcome to the Information Age, where there's more raw information arriving than ever before, and less useful knowledge)


For the same reason I don't want to install a decorator-style switch -- architectural consistency -- I also don't want it to look like a nine-year-old's school notebook.
Click to expand...
Well good luck.. I thought the glow in the dark coverplate was a ok solution...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top