Automating energy savings

zieak ♦ November 9, 2009 ♦ Leave Your Comment

Just before i went to China i found a lot of 20 motion sensing light switches on eBay for $100.  They were used at a construction site to save energy and the hassle of turning lights on and off.

I have a few rooms that you have to turn the light on no matter what time of day – even in the middle of summer.  The two upstairs closets and the laundry room have no windows but are spacious enough that you need a light on to get around.

And there is one other hassle: the switches for all of those rooms is on the outside.  I understand putting a light switch for a closet on the outside if you can only reach in – but walk-in closets should have the switch inside.

So i am installing the motion switches in the rooms by cutting a new opening, installing boxes that are supported by the drywall, and then putting a plate over.  Sounds easy… and really isn’t bad.

The light switch for the laundry room and the stair well. Sometimes i hit the wrong one. Moving one switch inside will help with that!

Hmmmm…. the light switch isn’t grounded… I’ll fix that too! I turned off the correct breaker. I then cut the wires close to the switch and then stripped off a half inch of insulation.

I measured the height from the floor to the bottom of the opening that is standard throughout the rest of the house. Then i measured in far enough to avoid the box on the other side – i’ll be leaving that in. I am not worried about the switch being further from the door than usual because it should just turn on and off without me hassling with it.

I used my drywall saw to cut out an opening. Yay! Finally a wall without plywood behind the sheetrock! (There is plywood on the opposite side though.)

I fished the wires from the old box and through the opening and ran them through a slot on the box. Then i installed the box by just sliding it into the opening and screwing two screws that rotate a flange that pins the junction box to the drywall. Then i used wire nuts to wire the switch.

I used two screws to mount the switch after i had the wiring satisfactorily stuffed into place. Then i turned on the breaker and tested it.

Here it is all done. Ready to save me energy (i forget to turn the light off sometimes), allow me to come and go hassle free, fixes the switch being in the “wrong” place, and probably even improves my home value somewhat.

Unfortunately, now i have just one switch where the two originally were. I’ll go through and install these in all the places i’d like them and then will go through patching drywall.

I think i’ll only use 7 of the switches. I may keep an additional three in case of malfunctions though. The other ten? I’ll try and sell to reduce my cost a little.