low voltage relays 1965 home

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What Kind? Judging by age I can think of one type....

You mean the ones that fit in KO's in the side of a panel??? Post a pic if you can - I can't remember the brand name but I know they are still available - people ano other forums have gotten them on the net.... Maybe someone else will know the name and where to get them?
 
Do they look like this?

RR7-EZ_GE.JPG


If so these are GE RR7, they are still used and still available.
 
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Do they look like this?

I walked into this mess this morning and wanted to turn around. At LEAST they weren't mounted in the attic (which is actually an isulated crawl space in AZ)
Long story but I gotta go now.

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While I am gone, someone explain where/why the DC comes into play. Each switch had it's own transformer but there was a single rectifier involved and the relays were DC. There were to many wire involved for me to trace out. I just replaced 2 relays. There were also a combination of 12vAC/14vDC relays, straight 12V DC relaysand 28 volt DC relays.The DC power supply was 30 volts.
 
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Last ge thingy i messed with was the switching for lights and you wont like the price but it was old and did get new switches OUCH.I buy nothing with name GE unless i must.
 
Touch Plate is still is business. You can get all that stuff today from them, or some electrical supply houses have the RR7 and RR9 relays right on the shelf. Even if they don't, they're a GE part. You can get all that stuff from any supply house that handles GE in a couple days.
 
that type of set up is pretty popular around here in MA. ive done work in a house on west island where i live that has that in the basement. its a pretty large box where those relays are mounted. i wonder what the benefits were to install this kind of system instead of just using line voltage switches for lights
 
220/221 said:
While I am gone, someone explain where/why the DC comes into play. Each switch had it's own transformer but there was a single rectifier involved and the relays were DC. There were to many wire involved for me to trace out. I just replaced 2 relays. There were also a combination of 12vAC/14vDC relays, straight 12V DC relaysand 28 volt DC relays.The DC power supply was 30 volts.
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Check out the links I posted, they show how touch plate used to be wired...
 
You don't need to use them with DC, but most people do. They are more reliable when run on DC. You're still using the same AC transformer, regardless, and they sell a cheesy little bridge rectifier you stick in the terminal strip to get your DC. I'd be willing to bet that many of the old systems have a failed rectifier and nobody is the wiser.
 
electricalperson said:
that type of set up is pretty popular around here in MA. ive done work in a house on west island where i live that has that in the basement. its a pretty large box where those relays are mounted. i wonder what the benefits were to install this kind of system instead of just using line voltage switches for lights
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many times it was installed in old homes as it was easier to put the LV wires in after the fact.

Other times it was a high end upgrade, you could have multiple switching locations, and a master control in the bedroom for every light in the house! It was state of the art, just like TV and high fidelity.
 
Check out the links I posted, they show how touch plate used to be wired...
Click to expand...

I looked at the schematic and came up empty.

The AC system I understand. I still dont see how the DC comes into play.

Mine had 120v in and 30v DC out. There were so may wirenuts and twisted up LV wire that I stopped trying to understand it.

I absolutely HATE having anything to do with that kind of crap. Whoever specifies this stuff should be shot.
 
Yeah, it was all those transformers I found odd. Old TouchPlate used just a single power supply for lots of relays, so having one transformer per relay is most odd. Saying 30VDC out makes more sense, it seems the GE relay is actually controlling the adjacent transformer. The question is where does that 30VDC go? To another relay elsewhere...? Low voltage lighting...? Some more control systems...?

Wierd.

And don't hate TouchPlate - a few decades ago that sort of control system was the mutts nuts. It didn't get better than that. Of course, back then we thought every home would eventually be wired that way, but look where we are now - we have really good automation products, and we still wire homes the way Edison showed us. I guess they call that progress...
 
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