040810 2301 - FurPaw posted:

RSMEINER wrote:

We recently inherited a house and are in the process of fixing up a house so
it can be sold. We knew a few light switches weren't working so I started
to try and track it down. Some lights were always on, some lights wouldn't
come on. This is an old low-voltage system by Touch-Plate.

Finally found the problem in a closet in the basement.
View at your own risk.
These pictures could cause you to go blind or cause insanity.

http://members.aol.com/rsmeiner/wiringhell/

So, I need help. Serious help. I'm looking for an electrition in the
Omaha, Nebraska area that understands low-voltage system.

You have my sympathy. We recently sold our 1964-ish house in NJ with a
low-voltage system in it.

We found an electrician who works on this type of system by calling
around to the various electricians in the area. If the manufacturer is
still in existence, you might be able to get the names of local
electricians who work on their systems from them.

Besides relays going bad, another problem we had was with switches that
stuck. There is a flat switch that has a tendency to "hang" one of the
corners when pressed in, and this caused the whole system to lock in its
current state (some lights on, some off). The fix was easy - go around
pressing switches until you find the one that's stuck and press it again
to release the hung-up corner. And then replace the switch with a
different type!

One thing I miss: Some of the lights were wired up to be controlled by
five or six different switches, and there was a master control panel in
one bedroom that was hooked to nearly every light in the house.

Good luck!

FurPaw

If you have a large house, those low voltage remote switching systems are
really great, and, as noted, in a master bedroom, a selector switch and
button arrangement can be installed to turn on or off just about any light
in the house or outside lights. It is a shame that someone has wired such a
mess as illustrated, but, and again, as noted, it is not a disaster, and it
can be repaired.

A remote low voltage switching system would be extremely desirable in the
case of long corridors in large buildings to control the corridor lighting
from several different places rather than using the usual 3-way and 4-way
lighting switching systems to reduce the voltage drop on the long runs of
lighting wiring.