Low Volt Switches - Electrician Talk - Professional Electrical Contractors Forum

jsb · 07-13-2009, 10:28 PM

i was just in a house built in '58, it has all low volt switches. in the attic there is a relay panels that has a bunch of 3 condutor wires in it and a bunch of relays.

tell me how to post a pic and i will

has anyone seen this before from that time period?

MDShunk · 07-13-2009, 10:32 PM

Yeah, sounds a lot like a GE RR-7 or RR-9 system with probably the GE rs2-32 switches or maybe touchplate switches.

Use the little

logo to paste images.

jsb · 07-13-2009, 10:47 PM

jsb · 07-13-2009, 10:47 PM

duh that was easy

Toronto Sparky · 07-13-2009, 10:51 PM

Yes Ge relays c/w red white and black wires right? Connected to momentary contact rocker switches and a 24vac transformer. The relays fit in a 1/2 in KO.
They used to be all over the place.. Mostly in Offices.
Sure you can still get them.

Toronto Sparky · 07-13-2009, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsb

Yuck.. Now thats ugly But they look like ge relays. Is there three low voltage wires or two? Looks like two from here.

Black4Truck · 07-13-2009, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk
Use the little [IMG

http://www.electriciantalk.com/images/editor/insertimage.gif[/IMG] logo to paste images.

I thought you had to use Photobucket to post pics??

This is the first time I ever saw using the icon

jsb · 07-13-2009, 10:58 PM

with little research it seems to be touch plate

why would there be 12-3's going to the relay panel. i would just pull power to the light fixture then a 12-2 to the relay box to switch the hot. then an 18-2 or so to the LV switch.

cant figure out why there would be a 3 conductor in the relay box??????

MDShunk · 07-13-2009, 10:58 PM

I think I spy a White-Rogers type Silent Operator, for controlling electric heat with a low voltage stat, attached to the bottom right of that junction box.

steelersman · 07-13-2009, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsb

with little research it seems to be touch plate

why would there be 12-3's going to the relay panel. i would just pull power to the light fixture then a 12-2 to the relay box to switch the hot. then an 18-2 or so to the LV switch.

cant figure out why there would be a 3 conductor in the relay box??????

I would use 14 guage romex since 12 guage is overkill and extremely unnecessary.

jsb · 07-13-2009, 11:03 PM

14awg whatever, i was getting @ the whole 3 wire thing. why would they bring a grounded conductor there if they did not need to. i assume there homerun goes to the light fixture. the panel looks normail and it obviously doesnt go to the switch so that leaves it going to the light fixture.

steelersman · 07-13-2009, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsb

14awg whatever, i was getting @ the whole 3 wire thing. why would they bring a grounded conductor there if they did not need to. i assume there homerun goes to the light fixture. the panel looks normail and it obviously doesnt go to the switch so that leaves it going to the light fixture.

not sure why they would do that. Doesn't seem to make sense other than that maybe they wanted to cover their asses just in case.

Toronto Sparky · 07-13-2009, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDShunk

I think I spy a White-Rogers type Silent Operator, for controlling electric heat with a low voltage stat, attached to the bottom right of that junction box.

I noticed that too I just could not for the life of me remember what it's name was.

Guess 8 months outta the trade and I'm losing it.

Toronto Sparky · 07-13-2009, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelersman

not sure why they would do that. Doesn't seem to make sense other than that maybe they wanted to cover their asses just in case.

GE relays require an 18/3 from the switch to the relay as they contain two coils.. one on / one off

Toronto Sparky · 07-13-2009, 11:45 PM

Been years since I worked with stand alone GE Relays but.. I do believe the red and black from the switch go to the red and black on the relay.. the white from each go to the 24vac on transformer. (switch is a single pole double throw momentary contact)
Most common failure was the switch getting stuck and burning out one of the coils in the relay.

steelersman · 07-14-2009, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toronto Sparky

GE relays require an 18/3 from the switch to the relay as they contain two coils.. one on / one off

I thought the OP was saying that there was 12/3 from the light fixtures to the relay cabinet.

EJPHI · 08-23-2009, 12:37 AM

It was 1964.

The light switches started failing in great numbers about 6 years after the house was built. My dad called the local electrician/plumber/HVAC guy because i was only 8 and he didn't trust me yet to do electrical work.
The guy he called was really neat! He let me watch him work and sent me to fetch tools. The problem turned out to be the black low voltage latching relays. The company that made them went out of business and GE had the only replacement on the market.

The electrican gave me an assignment to take apart some of the failed ones and report back how they worked and see if i could figure out what caused them to fail.

Wow this was my first real electrical project that didn't involve burning my fingers or getting in trouble!!

So I took them apart and found out that the 3 fat wires were needed because they had an internal transformer powered by the black and white wires. The red wire was the switched load. It looked like the contact was melted between the heavy black and red wires which caused the malfunction.

The GE replacements were a PITA. They had no internal transformer so a new transformer was needed for every 2-3 units that were replaced. This was bad because they were not located in one panel, but rather spread out in junction boxes throughout the attic. I still remember my dad cursing every time he went up in the attic and tripped over one of those transformers.

The new GE units made a rather nasty rasping noise when ever they were turned on or off.

Yes I did burn out 1 or 2 by holding the button in the on/off position for a really long time! But then I had to replace them and my allowance was used up in buying the parts.

EJPHI