light switch

Martin_the_Unjust

ThisIsWeird said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

Can't you just change the light fitting to a motion activated one?

...which requires a neutral

…….which there will be at the light fitting. 😀

propertyrental

Oh dear I fear we are drifting into a discussion on bathroom habits!

Perhaps naively I'd assumed there would be 4 wires, 2 for each switch (just like the plug mentioned earlier but without the earth), and I'd just need to swop them over.

I'm certainly not going to start adding wires inside the walls (no conduit), changing light fittings (and extractor?) to motion-activated), or letting Alexa into the house. Who knows what she might see in the bathroom....?..

Unless it's straight-forward it's not worth the hassle.

GDB2222

propertyrental said:

Oh dear I fear we are drifting into a discussion on bathroom habits!

Perhaps naively I'd assumed there would be 4 wires, 2 for each switch (just like the plug mentioned earlier but without the earth), and I'd just need to swop them over.

I'm certainly not going to start adding wires inside the walls (no conduit), changing light fittings (and extractor?) to motion-activated), or letting Alexa into the house. Who knows what she might see in the bathroom....?..

Unless it's straight-forward it's not worth the hassle.

The starting point is to unscrew the switch and take a look.

There will probably be two wires to each switch, one live and one switched live, plus earth. 

The low tech solution is to paint some nail varnish on the switch, so it is obvious whether it is up or down.

FreeBear

GDB2222 said:

propertyrental said:

Oh dear I fear we are drifting into a discussion on bathroom habits!

Perhaps naively I'd assumed there would be 4 wires, 2 for each switch (just like the plug mentioned earlier but without the earth), and I'd just need to swop them over.

I'm certainly not going to start adding wires inside the walls (no conduit), changing light fittings (and extractor?) to motion-activated), or letting Alexa into the house. Who knows what she might see in the bathroom....?..

Unless it's straight-forward it's not worth the hassle.

The starting point is to unscrew the switch and take a look.

There will probably be two wires to each switch, one live and one switched live, plus earth. 

The low tech solution is to paint some nail varnish on the switch, so it is obvious whether it is up or down.

A bodge solution is to wire the neutral to earth - A neon will draw ~2mA, so not enough to trigger an RCD. BUT using the earth as a neutral breaks all the rules and should not be done.

You can also get smart light switches that don't require a neutral. The ones I use (Sonoff TX with neutral) have a blue LED to indicate the state of the light.

Risteard

FreeBear said:

GDB2222 said:

propertyrental said:

Oh dear I fear we are drifting into a discussion on bathroom habits!

Perhaps naively I'd assumed there would be 4 wires, 2 for each switch (just like the plug mentioned earlier but without the earth), and I'd just need to swop them over.

I'm certainly not going to start adding wires inside the walls (no conduit), changing light fittings (and extractor?) to motion-activated), or letting Alexa into the house. Who knows what she might see in the bathroom....?..

Unless it's straight-forward it's not worth the hassle.

The starting point is to unscrew the switch and take a look.

There will probably be two wires to each switch, one live and one switched live, plus earth. 

The low tech solution is to paint some nail varnish on the switch, so it is obvious whether it is up or down.

A bodge solution is to wire the neutral to earth - A neon will draw ~2mA, so not enough to trigger an RCD. BUT using the earth as a neutral breaks all the rules and should not be done.

You can also get smart light switches that don't require a neutral. The ones I use (Sonoff TX with neutral) have a blue LED to indicate the state of the light.

Not only is it against "all the rules". It is in fact unlawful and illegal under the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations which explicitly states that "a consumer shall not combine the neutral and protective functions in a single conductor in his consumer’s installation."

MysteryMe

For the likely cost of trying to fix it, you might as well let things be. One light low energy light bulb left on for a few hours is not going to make much difference to your energy bill. 

Perhaps a little sign on the inside of the door to remind the occupier to turn the light off with the already suggested marking the switch red when it's in the on position.

Alternatively, although again it's a faff, you could shave a bit off the bottom of the door so light would seep through underneath.