Instant Karma's Gonna Got Me

Humph.

Just after "fixing" the front entry lights (Did I mention I also installed a rotary dimmer while I was at it?) the House of the Future got back at me.

Blown relay.  I think.

No, really.  Kids pushed the switch in too hard, jamming it in the on position, which sends a continuous signal to the realy, burning it out.  There is a technical term for this in the Archi/Electical world.  It is known as "shit be broke."

Now, it's possible they fried the switch, but I doubt it.  There's no clicky-buzzy sound (let me know if this is getting too technical) when you hit the switch anymore, on or off.

Lamp is good.  Brand spankin' new.  Works like a charm, provided, of course, that you screw it in somewhere else.  I'm sure you are all thinking of possible locations as we speak.

I believe the house just gave me a giant raspberry.

Well. This is awkward...

I finally got around to changing out that switch relay...well, almost.

Yes, yes, I know.  It's been on the Honey Do list for quite some time.  I've been busy, I swear!  First, my pet duck needed an iron lung.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a bespoke iron lung tailor? It's not easy.  Let's just leave it at that.  Then my personal balloonist, Guiseppe, went on strike, meaning I had no easy mode of transportation.  There was an earthquake!  A terrible flood!  Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT I SWEAR TO GOD!!!

Ahem.

Anywho, I have a new set of hand tools, having still not found the box the movers cleverly put all my old ones into, and we are having guests over, so it's time to be Handy Andy.

New relay.  Check.
Linesman's pliers.  Check
Needle nose pliers.  Check.
Slotted screwdriver.  Check.
Circuit breaker located.  Check.

Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more...

Take all the coats out of the closet, get everything laid out just so... hmm... never noticed that rotary switch before.

Now, before I go any further, I need to pause and say there are rotary switches all over this house.  Most of them control the in-ceiling speakers in the various rooms.  Some are still total mysteries. There are two in the china hutch.  No idea what they do.  But why a rotary switch in the front hall closet?  Curious... I wonder what it controls... there are no speakers over here.  Well, let's give it a turn, shall we?

And.....Presto.  The lights come on.  Yes, those lights.  Yes, those very lights whose relay I was fixin' to fix.

Well.  This is awkward.

Honey!  I fixed the lights in the front hall!

Relay Races

After a bit of searching, I've uncovered several relay panels strategically placed in closets around the house.  I didn't notice them at first - they're just a painted metal plate with 4 counter-sunk screws. And I have to say, so far things look pretty tidy inside them.  There's bits of white tape on each relay, with faded, handwritten descriptions of what the relay controls.  We'll have to upgrade that; the ink is pretty faded and it's written in longhand.

But enough about that, for the moment.  "What's a relay look like," you ask?  Well they look like this, compliments of the large box left for me in the basement, labeled "electrical parts."

The 3 small gauge wires are for the controls - the switch on the wall, usually, but it could be anything that provides momentary contact.  The 4 holes above the motor label are for the line level wires.  The round shaft has 4 long spring clips that you can kind of see in the first photo.

Holy Cable Salad, Batman!  

"See there, Norm, what you've got there is your typical 5x2 relay cabinet."  

     --Cliff Claven

The box is pretty simple - apart from a lot of knockouts on the top and bottom, there's just a single piece of metal.  It's punched with two rows of five holes, and when you stick a relay into the hole, the long spring clips hold it in loosely place.  It keeps the hot side hot, and the cold side cold.

After looking around on the Interwebs, I've learned I'm pretty lucky.  Most are poorly labeled, poorly organized, and full of 60 years of detritus. While some of the little white tape bits are hard to read, they are all there.  Through a process of elimination I've managed to identify most of them.  There's anothere identically sized panel to the left - I'll have to open and catalog that one as well.

Now, if I can manage to unpack my linesman's and needle-nose pliers this weekend, we should be Back to the Future! 

Back to the future!

This old new house has a rather unusual electrical system.  Nearly all of the electrical switches are low-voltage, 24 volt, with 3 control wires.  The low-voltage switch legs run back to a relay panel, where mechanical relays open and close the circuit, turning the light on or off.

"Huh?" you say.
"Yes," I say, "I know."

What would they do that?  It's the House of the Future!  Low-voltage switching allows you to put as many switches as you want on a circuit, wherever you want them.  This, in 1961, was amazing.  It's still pretty amazing now, if you are the kind of person that is likely to want more than one switch to control a single light. If you are not that kind of person, it's kinda cray cray.

The switches are mostly made by Remcon, and have a sexy, hourglass shape that screams mid-Century modern.

See?  You like them more now, right?  You kinda want to touch them, don't you?  Mmm-hmm. I know.  Too bad they went out of production years ago, and are impossible to find now.

But wait - there's more!

What's that honey?  A burned out light bulb?  No problem.  Gotcha covered.  New light bulb, et voila'.  
Hmm.  Still doesn't work.  What the....  Double check the light bulb - yep, it's good.  
Double Hmm.

This, my friends, in the House of the Future is what's known as a "blown relay."  (Fortunately, the relays are still available.)  Off we go in search of the relay panel.  It could be anywhere, remember.  Switch proximity is not a factor.  Mechanical relays make a noise when they trip, so finding one is like a game of electrical Marco Polo.  

Next up - The Relay Panel