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Electrical Wiring

Home Master Switch to switch off All Lights and Fans

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I am constructing a new house two floors and basement. What is the best way to have a master switch to close all "lights and fans" of the house broken by each floor. ( or one Master Switch per floor ) which could be put next to the garage enterance so that I am not running around the house trying to switch all the items left "on" by my small kids. My electric contractor is recommending a 50A Subpanel running across the house from the main panel to the garage and is quoting $ 1000 for just for the second floor, which which I thought is too expensive.

I personally don't like home automation as much as it has too many bells and whistles and would prefer something akin to a master switch.

Looking for suggestions and ideas.

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Comments (4)

mike_kaiser_gw
8 years ago
I'll let others get into the technical details but most homes are wired where lighting circuits are shared with general use receptacles. The lighting would have to be separated from the receptacles otherwise you might be turning things off like alarm clocks and computers. While that could certainly be done it turns the wiring into more of "custom" job which will add to the expense.

My gut reaction is that you would be many years away from a return on your investment. A 60 watt "equivalent" LED bulb uses about 9 watts of power. If you child leaves the bulb on for 2 straight days, it would cost you somewhere around a dime. Without getting into parenting styles, I'd think it would be far more
cost effective to teach your children to turn off lights when their done
using them and gives them important life lessons. Having to walk back
up stairs to turn things off is often an effective teaching method.
greg_2015
8 years ago
The problem with a master switch is that if you forget to flip it back on, then you can't turn the lights back on until you go back down the stairs to the garage entrance. If you arrive home while it's still daylight, it might slip your mind until it starts getting dark.

So some kind of home automation is better even if it's more bells and whistles. You can turn it off (and depending on your set up, you could probably use a smart phone to do that), but the actual switches will turn things back on without worrying about the position of the master switch.

But as mike said, it's better to just teach your kids to turn things off. Plus, they are only 'small kids' for a few years. As they get older, it should become an automatic reaction to turn lights off when they leave a room. That's better than a quick fix now.
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ionized_gw
8 years ago
My wife is over 50 and she still thinks that light switches are for turning lights on :-(

Just install timers for the fans and occupancy sensors for the lights where ever practical.
User
8 years ago
This used to be done with momentary push buttons for low voltage relays.

http://www.wattstopper.com/products/lighting-control-panel-systems/lighting-integrator/complete-control-level/hdr-low-voltage-relay.aspx

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