I think the one you had when you were a kid had a mercury vile in the switch knob itself. We had one like that in our house too. From what I was told the mercury formed a contact when the switch was in the down position and that completed a circuit within the switch making a small light come on. When the knob was up it made the mercury go away and break the circuit and turn the little light in the switch off.
I just put a glowing switch in my shop for those that have to mess with lights. The box for the lights is mounted above the door because I made the door expandable if I need a wider door at some point. I can unbolt a section of the wall to pull that part out and then the opening is 6 feet wide. I put the switch above the opening so it won't be in the way for those times the door needs to be wider. It glows green and I figured that would make the wife happy being able to see something in the dark... Of course reaching over her head doesn't rate high on the happy list but I figure I can always turn the lights on if I need her in the shop... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dale Leavens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 12:00 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] wiring a light switch. > Unless this is knob and tube wiring there will very definitely be a black > and a white wire in the switch box. Occasionally there will also be a red > one if a three way switch and if a four way switch there will be two white > and two black wires and the switch will have 4 terminals on it. Those are > worth about 25 bucks, not that easy to find. I have one such arrangement > here which I installed when I built my addition so that the lights on the > stairs and landings can be switched from bottom and top on the original > side of the house and outside each of the two bedroom doors on the landing > on the new side. Took me about a week to understand how it is done before > I could wire it. > > Reversing the wiring on a switch will not reverse which way it works. > revolving the switch upside down so that the terminals go into the box on > the left will. Most switches these days, maybe all I don't know have a dot > which appears under the toggle when the switch is on or even the word "ON" > and "OFF" which appear below and above the toggle depending on it's > position. > > When I was a kid we even had a bathroom switch which lit when in the off > position. The purpose was to assist someone finding it in the night I > believe. I don't know how it worked or why it should be made to go off > when the light was on. > > Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Skype DaleLeavens > Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bob Kennedy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 11:27 PM > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] wiring a light switch. > > >> Only the black wire gets attached in a light switch. If you are running >> new >> wire, only cut the black one. If you are replacing a switch just undo >> the >> screws and put the wires back in the same place. The worst that can >> happen >> is the switch will work upside down. >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Peawee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: "BH" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 5:17 PM >> Subject: [BlindHandyMan] wiring a light switch. >> >> >>> Hi, is their any electrician out their that can help me on a basic >>> wiring >>> of a light switch? My step son is trying to replace a switch in his >>> house. >>> I >>> just need some refresher of basic switch wiring. Its been a long time >>> since >>> I have done anything like this. >>> >>> thanks, >>> Peawee >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> >>> No virus found in this outgoing message. >>> Checked by AVG Free Edition. >>> Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.0/1218 - Release Date: >>> 1/10/2008 >>> 1:32 PM >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> To listen to the show archives go to link >>> http://acbradio.org/handyman.html >>> or >>> ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ >>> >>> The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. >>> http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday >>> >>> Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From >>> Various >>> List Members At The Following address: >>> http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ >>> >>> Visit the archives page at the following address >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>> >>> If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following >>> address for more information: >>> http://www.jaws-users.com/ >>> For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man >>> list just send a blank message to: >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> Yahoo! Groups Links >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> >> To listen to the show archives go to link >> http://acbradio.org/handyman.html >> or >> ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ >> >> The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. >> http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday >> >> Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various >> List Members At The Following address: >> http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ >> >> Visit the archives page at the following address >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> >> If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following >> address for more information: >> http://www.jaws-users.com/ >> For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man >> list just send a blank message to: >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Yahoo! Groups Links >> >> >> >> > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various > List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ > > Visit the archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following > address for more information: > http://www.jaws-users.com/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ Visit the archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following address for more information: http://www.jaws-users.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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