Advice on building a periodic button-pressing device

[Reryder]

Slap one of these stickers over the switch.
Stand a milk crate on the floor in front of it.
Leave the front door open.

[configurationspace]

JR, nice to see there's a person willing to offer something constructive! Has this forum ever degraded.

Unfortunately I can't really pitch anything to "them". For example, we have "high efficiency" toilets in the building. They're motion sensor triggered. So every time you sit down to use the toilet it will flush five times before you're done. And if you walk out without putting the toilet seat down, some kind of magic will happen where the toilet will flush once every 20 seconds or so, until somebody comes back into the room and puts the toilet seat down.

The net effect of all this green technology is we appear to be using about 20 times as much water as with the "wasteful" technology. No amount of talking to the efficiency or maintenance people has had any affect.

It appears that taping a ruler to the button won't do the trick -- it needs to be pressed and released. The remote idea sounds neat. I might have a go at that, provided there's enough space behind the switch so that it can be properly hidden.

Originally Posted by JR Greenhorn

We have occupancy sensors on just about every lighting circuit at my work, and they seem to work well.

@configurationspace, this is the route to go. Maybe you could pitch it to them that it would save energy anytime the lights aren't needed all day long, and not just after 7PM. Perhaps they could also run with less duration than 10 minutes with this type of sensor as well. Seems like if "greenness" was the reason they went with the silly pushbutton, proposing something more "green" but that is also a benefit to you would be the avenue for change.

Otherwise, I was thinking maybe there is a way to build a device that would use a small solar cell from a calculator to provide a signal to a relay, which would be wired to a solenoid. The signal would be set up so that the relay powered the solenoid on when it detected light, pushing against a spring. When the lights go out, the signal goes away, the relay opens and the solenoid relaxes, allowing the spring to actuate the button. As soon as the lights come on, the signal to the relay returns, so the solenoid compresses the spring again.

I suppose the trick would be figuring out a way to mount it to the lights button on the wall, in a way that it could be easily placed and removed every night. Well, that and building such a Rube Goldberg-ish device in the first place.

[tucsondude]

Go tell your boss/HR politetely that you feel this a safety/ trip hazard that strains your eyes? i dont know how dark it gets.

where is the simpons episode where homer uses the bird to press buttons on his keyboard?

[configurationspace]

Originally Posted by tucsondude

Go tell your boss/HR politetely that you feel this a safety/ trip hazard that strains your eyes? i dont know how dark it gets.

where is the simpons episode where homer uses the bird to press buttons on his keyboard?

As I explained in the previous post, this is a situation where I either fix it myself in a discrete and slick way, or it does not get fixed. "Complain to the boss" is a strategy that does not work.

[troidus]

Spend less time on ADV during the day so you can go home at a normal time?
























(Seriously, just get a floor/desk lamp. Don't get fired for messing with the building.)

[Reryder]

And seriously, if you can't go to your workplace health and safety person and explain the hazard of stumbling about in the dark and get it fixed, why in the hell do you want to stay there at 7pm at night?
I used to do all that stuff too. And got no thanks for it. And ended up with health problems as a result. (hence stuck at home blabbing absolute shite on advrider)
Go home. Problem solved.

[configurationspace]

Originally Posted by Reryder

And seriously, if you can't go to your workplace health and safety person and explain the hazard of stumbling about in the dark and get it fixed, why in the hell do you want to stay there at 7pm at night?
I used to do all that stuff too. And got no thanks for it. And ended up with health problems as a result. (hence stuck at home blabbing absolute shite on advrider)
Go home. Problem solved.

Please stop responding to this thread, you're not helpful.

[Reryder]

Sorry mate.
The absurdity of your situation with the mindless corporation refusing to put in a occupancy sensor for a conscientious employee was all to much for me. ( No wonder the Occupy movement is getting so much traction.)

Back to the technical challenges of your original quest, it seems like the biggest hurdle is that switch being 110 volt switch mounted in a very small wall-mount switch box behind the wallboard, leaving no room for any kind of hidden switching device heavy duty enough to switch 110 volts. That, plus the danger of frying yourself, or at least tripping a circuit breaker and giving the game away, while trying to splice into a live 110 volt line. Not for the faint-hearted to be sure.

Your original idea of hiding a compact mercury switch inside the switch box and having the bulky operating magnet temporarily mounted outside the switch box is on the right track, but mercury is not magnetic so will not respond to the magnet.

A magnetic reed switch is more like what you will need. but like a 110v mercury switch, a 110v reed switch is unlikely to fit inside the wall switch box, and you cant exactly go punching holes in the wall to mount it nearby.

That is why I was thinking more along the lines of an electromechanical device, temporarily mounted outside the switch box each night, that physicaly pushes the existing button in response to a remote or timed signal. This is safer and more practical than a concealed second switching device.

But if you could somehow jerry rig a magnetic reed switch in there, and splice it in live, then all you have to do is hook a remote controller unit, or a repetitive timer, up to an electromagnet and a battery, find a way of sticking it over the switch at night, eg large suction cup used for lifting glass sheets, and you are all set. Still seems to me like the electromechanical button pusher would be easier to make and install.

Or, why don't you pull that switch out one night and take a look at it. If you are in luck it just might, small chance, be a wireless remote signalling device. In which case you can buy another one just like it and send your own signals.

Good luck with the project and let us know how it goes.

[AkBrian]

solenoid, with plunger.
battery
capacitor
potentiometer
relay
suction cup or magnetic base, as appropriate.
Google "decay circuit".

[troidus]

Originally Posted by Reryder

Back to the technical challenges of your original quest, it seems like the biggest hurdle is that switch being 110 volt.

It's a commercial building. Don't assume it's 110. Over half the fluorescent lights where I work are 277.

[Reryder]

Originally Posted by troidus

It's a commercial building. Don't assume it's 110. Over half the fluorescent lights where I work are 277.

Yikes, even more so then.

[rebake]

Crossbow with soft tipped arrows?Guys at work used to make blow guns that shot foam earplugs.That is until someone put a length of welding wire through one and sharpened the end,changed the game quite a bit.Ed

[the_gr8t_waldo]

if you start to delve into the switch AND the boss finds out, you'll probably get a really big "atta boy"- in the form of a final check.( and rightfully so)... if youre trying to get ahead, try doing it during reg office hours.

[josjor]

This is still going on? You haven't bought a floor lamp for your office yet?

[Skinner]

Ok I tried real hard but don't how to embed this!

http://youtu.be/ypmI-heWqF8