I have a switch that controls an outlet on the other side of the room. On the other wall there are two outlets that I have lamps plugged into. It would be really great if i could use that switch to turn those lamps on and off with out having to run a extension cord across the room.  I have a seen smart switches, smart wall outlets, smart electric cords, to smart light bulb intermediary sockets.  What is important to me is that I have price options when buying and installing the solution, and of course it all works together when installed.  P.S. an Developer API would be nice as well.  So what are my options?
120468
I have an outlet that's live, and I want to make it switched without having to get an electrician. Suggestions?
59550
I've got a situation where I have a 240V 30A dryer line, and I want to power something else from the same circuit, but NEVER at the same time as the dryer. I'm looking for a switch to use, like a DPDT ON-ON break-before-make switch. There are tons of DPDT switches I've found, and most seem to be ON-OFF. Hardly any show their wiring diagrams, so if they don't give more details, I don't know if they'll work. Note: the second circuit will not use more than 15A, maybe just 12A.  I'm hoping someone can recommend specific switches that will do what I want. Manufacturer and exact part# is what I'm looking for.   Personally, I don't care if it's a knife switch, something that looks like a standard light switch, two buttons, has relays, I don't care. The breaker box is full, it's a long and difficult wire run, and I do not need a separate circuit because I'll NEVER need to run both devices at once.  I could resort to just using one plug and unplugging one then plugging the other one in, but I don't see the point of constantly exposing live wires (the plugs) where something could inadvertently fall on them or water could be sprayed, instead of keeping things all sealed in the wall with a safe, simple switch between two plugs.
94441
I am building a large array of Light Switched relays, and due to the size of the array i want to keep the part count down.  Each 'Pixel module' has a 12V SPDT, bulb and an activate-on-dark circuit. There is a strong spotlight on the device and the viewers shadow is obscuring the light in their shadow so the swing is large.  I have seen the obvious LDR-and-Pot circuits with a junction out to a NPN Transistor, and the more stable comparator alternative  I was looking at "solar cell" types of Photodiodes (PiN Type), and I can't see why I cannot just lay one across a PNP transistor (Collector to Base?) or something so it applies a Base voltage when lit up.  Can someone briefly explain to me why I am wrong?  I figure it would be all over the net if it was that easy, and i cant find any examples!  Is this possibly the cheapest way to make a light switched 12V relay driver?  Note: I prefer solutions using discrete circuitry, as I have a thing for human readability, visual components etc :P
99406
I recently tried to change a bulb using an adaptor (converting from a E27 to B22 fitting). After switching on the light fitting the fuse had blown. After inspection it turns out the adapter is faulty and must have caused a short-circuit.  After removing the bulb and resetting the switch in the main fuse box, I am now unable to operate the switch on the wall to turn the fitting off (the switch physically won't click).   Is there something I can do to fix the problem?  Thanks,
111315
I'm installing additional light bulbs in my basement. I have an older house with aluminum wiring.  Can I do this:  [new light bulbs]&lt;--copper-->[old light bulb junction box]&lt;--aluminum-->[main circuit]  Is it safe / does it comply to code ?
119252
This past week at Menards I bought 2 Smart Electrician® 3650 Lumens 46" LED Linkable Shop Light Model Number: 0053-0011  |  Menards® SKU: 3481400.  The LED shop light fixture has a glow to it. Looked like the LEDs were turned on, but not all the way. The power switch is turned off. Don’t know why I did this but I took one of those three prong adaptors converters to two prong and to my surprise the light fixture didn’t light up. I unplug the cord with the adaptor and turned it around and it still didn’t light up. The power supply electronics inside the light fixture must be using the earth ground wire somehow. Using my volt meter. I measured to earth ground to the green wire that comes out of the adaptor and to my surprise depending how I plug in the adaptor. I’m getting 112 volts AC. That's because the adaptor isn't keyed and I'm switching the HOT and NEUTRAL around depending how I  plug it in.  I connected the LED light fixture to “Safety Analyzer tester”. When I press the “Open Ground” button, the fixture stops glowing (lightly lite LED’s).  Looks like the power supply circuit inside the fixture has a connection to “Earth Ground”.  I then switched the “Normal” on the polarity switch to “Reverse” and the LED’s were off. Switching the Neutral to open position has no effect. I'm thinking of taking them apart and see inside what's going on or take them back.  I figured out the problem.    In this light fixture you can clearly see the white wire (neutral/common) is connected to the light switch, turning the power off the LED light strip. Commonly we switch off the “HOT” to your light socket so when you change your bulb you have a less of a chance of getting electrocuted (that’s another story for later). Sometimes in Power supply circuits they place capacitors in there to help filter electrical noise out. Also known as suppressers (electronics to reduce unwanted noise or oscillation in a circuit or unwanted frequencies in a signal). Depending on how or where they are placed in the circuit it could possible cause some issue if not installed correctly or if the circuit isn’t designed correctly.   Since the BLACK live wire is connected to the LED PCB all the time, anything connected to that line will potentially be LIVE voltage, that way when I disconnected the earth ground from the socket and measured 112 volts on it. My guess is they have capacitors connected to both LIVE and NEUTRAL to the earth ground wire.  The current is flowing through capacitor C2, just enough to turn the LED’s on slightly. If the switch was on the hot side, this problem wouldn’t be happening. I still may use them just not connect the “earth ground” wire. Because that’s providing the return path for lighting the LED’s.
99628
I'm trying to create a simple circuit that will turn a  green when the power is on and red when it is off. I figure the simplest way to do this would be using a SPDT switch, but the switch in the circuit I'm designing is a 40 amp relay, and I found a SPST one for about a buck while the SPDT one was almost 4. For future reference, and also to cut the cost of designing my current circuit I'm trying to come up with some way to wire it up and basically make a "normally on" switch for the red and "normally off for the green.  The closest I've come is finding this circuit which would work except for the fact that the bicolor led shares a cathode.     Is there any way to change up the circuit, or is there something else I can try which would free up the cathode to make it so I can independently switch on the two LEDs?
17555
I have two LED lamps in my corridor, and when I switch them off, they keep emitting light (not very strong, but it's annoying at night).  What can it be? How can I fix it?
53778
I am installing an overhead automatic garage door opener. My only power source close to where I will be hanging the motor is an overhead light socket that is operated by a switch on the wall next to the house entry door.   I wanted to know if it is possible to rewire the light socket with a standard electrical plug outlet AND to remove the switch &amp; wire it to provide constant power to the new outlet. The overhead light is on my 15A garage GFI circuit &amp; the opener lists 120V/6A as its power requirements.  I live in the US.
93526
I can't seem to figure out how to connect my light bulb to the generator to make it turn on.  How do I do this?
52221
The current switch controls an outlet in the corner of the room for a lamp. I pulled it out and noticed three sets of individual wires: two set of wires coming up into the box from the bottom, and one set with a red wire coming down into box.  All the white and grounding wires are capped.  Also all the black wires are capped; one set I’m assuming is the hot since I see it contains a red wire. On the back of the switch, the top two ports have black wires and the bottom right has the one red wire.  There are two black pigtail wires coming off the black capped wires. I tried to connect a separate switch to control a ceiling fan with remote. I ran new wire making the old switch box into a two switch. I ran 14/2 gauge wire to ceiling for fan / light remote combo. Fan didn’t work after multiple re-wiring  combinations. The breaker did pop and half click when it popped. Then I thought to re-wire the ceiling fan wires as if I was going to make it into outlet only and use a tester to indicate an open ground, or a wiring error but the two light on tester are both orange indicating correct wiring. I heard that sometimes the ceiling fan remote transformer goes bad. Should I check batteries and/or unit placement? I’m really confused at this point why the light is not working at least with remote after follow wiring installation instructions that were included with the fan. I think it’s my wiring with the switch. The way I left the wiring is that it has constant power. As if we’re a outlet the current switch does not turn it off.
39734
Saw the good answer to this question:   But I'm wondering as a followup, since the two primary prongs in an AC mains plug are different, why (in many plug configurations) are you allowed to insert the plug in either direction? Is there ever a case where the appliance cares which line is "hot" and which is "neutral"? Is there ever a case where it's important enough not to screw up?
32580
I'm installing a new ceiling fan. I have 2 black and 2 white wires coming from the ceiling. 1 black wire is not a power source. The 2 white wires are capped together. I've left the non power black wire source capped and left the 2 white wires capped together. After hooking up everything the fan and light works. Yay!! However, there is a wall switch that should turn on and off the fan and it's not working. I'm assuming it has something to do with the non ground black wire. If so, how do I connect it to the fan switch? Thank you for your time.
3098
(I know this question has been asked before (), but I followed the advice recommended by the users in that thread to help remedy the problem, but the lights still glow.)  I recently bought dimmable LEDs for my house, and I've noticed that the lights glow a little bit even while the dimmer is turned off (I have illuminated light switches to DO NOT use the neutral wire). I suspect this is due to the wall switches using the light bulb itself as neutral. When the wall switch is on, the bulb gets full line voltage. When the wall switch is off, the bulb is the neutral for the light of the wall switch, causing a tiny current to flow through the bulb.  I replaced the dimmer with the Luron MACL-153M, a digital dimmer that is specifically made for LEDs/CFLs, but that problem still persists (note: this dimmer also DOES NOT use the neutral wire, and is illuminated with a small light).  I then replaced one room's dimmer with a smart WiFi switch that DOES use the neutral wire, and walla, no glow. Also, if I use a non-illuminated switch, the LEDs do no glow while the switch is turned off.  So I tried a solution that seems to work for the rest of the rooms where I don't want smart light switches. I added a 10k ohm resistor in between the load and the neutral (so in parallel), and it seems to "drain" that small electricity leak from the dimmer. When I did this, the LEDs did not glow when turned off.  Now, my question to the community is: Is there a safer way to do this? Of course I covered all exposed wires with electrical tape, and my resistor is rated at 200 volts (I live in the US). And theoretically, this resistor is acting just like another bulb on the circuit, but that does not emit light.  I looked around for a non-wifi/Bluetooth/etc. dimmer that uses the neutral wire, and the only one seems to be a Leviton one that costs $60--way too pricey. Adding a resistor in parallel makes sense and is much more cost-effective. Please let me know if this is ok/safe long term.
20267
Most of us use switches every day in various forms.  And although there are sometimes general norms in countries as to which direction is "on", there is variation between countries.  So when developing a product with a switch in it, which direction makes the most sense for "on", and why?  I'm not talking about other ways of showing that they will be on or off, I'm more talking about whether "on" is up, down, left, or right.  Any research on this would be appreciated.
116220
I would like to make what I can best describe as a reverse USB switch, where one USB 2.0 device (a dongle) is physically connected to 2 computers (located side by side). The dongle is powered through USB.  I.e. what I'd like to make is a Y-split, with one female going to two males.  Could this be done simply by wiring together 3 cable ends with the appropriate connectors? Do you think the dongle would be recognized locally and useable on both computers? Should I make sure that power only runs from one of the computers?
97801
I have a room with only one Ethernet cable going there, but I would like to connect two devices on it. Is an Ethernet splitter suitable for that? I am talking about something like this:    In theory it should work like an Ethernet hub, which only amplifies the signal, but send it to all clients (like a splitter would). I've never used it, so I need confirmation that it work or not before I'll buy it.