Silent (dimmable) bathroom light switch - minimum wattage

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haydnw

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Hi all! We currently have a standard bathroom light pull switch, with a bathroom fan connected. All was fitted by an electrician. I would like to replace the noisy pull switch with a nice silent one, and have found only one option - a "Dimmable pull switch (quiet)" product ref. 2865 from a website called My Green Lighting. So I suppose I have two questions really:

1) Does anyone know of an alternative simple replacement pull switch (i.e. not dimmable) which is silent?

2) If not... the one highlighted above states "The maximum current capacity of the of the product is 250w and minimum 50w.". The fan stats say Power(W) is between 6.9 and 29W depending on speed - so presumably I need to establish what speed it's currently set to, and then buy a bulb of whatever wattage is required to make it up to the minimum 50W? I'm just thinking that if the fan is on Low mode it's only 9.3W so a >40W energy-saving bulb (if I can even find one) is going to be far too bright. I really just wanted to check that I've understood all of this correctly!

Many thanks,

Haydn

 
Hmmm     I'm not sure but I think you'll probably begger up the fan .  

Out of interest ,  how noisy is this pull switch ?      Generally they just go  "Click"   like a light switch .        I imagine it slamming in like a 500Amp   switchfuse .    

You could replace it with a motion sensor ,   involve a bit of extra wiring . 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi all! We currently have a standard bathroom light pull switch, with a bathroom fan connected. All was fitted by an electrician. I would like to replace the noisy pull switch with a nice silent one, and have found only one option - a "Dimmable pull switch (quiet)" product ref. 2865 from a website called My Green Lighting. So I suppose I have two questions really:

1) Does anyone know of an alternative simple replacement pull switch (i.e. not dimmable) which is silent?

2) If not... the one highlighted above states "The maximum current capacity of the of the product is 250w and minimum 50w.". The fan stats say Power(W) is between 6.9 and 29W depending on speed - so presumably I need to establish what speed it's currently set to, and then buy a bulb of whatever wattage is required to make it up to the minimum 50W? I'm just thinking that if the fan is on Low mode it's only 9.3W so a >40W energy-saving bulb (if I can even find one) is going to be far too bright. I really just wanted to check that I've understood all of this correctly!

Many thanks,

Haydn


Hello Haydn, welcome to the forum.  The wiring instructions for the product you described only show the switch being used to operate a light and the Switched-live trigger for a timer fan. The load supply for the fan is a direct supply via a separate permanent live wire. If your fan is not a timer fan, you may damage the fan or the dimmer, (or find it just doesn't work correctly), by trying to connect the fan load via the switch. According to the manufactures instructions you will need a 50watt lighting load Minimum for correct operation.  The instructions suggest that, whenever the cord pull is switched it starts a full brightness, which will give full voltage to trigger any timer fan connected. If the cord pull is held it then starts dimming the load, (but by then the fan will have been operated getting its supply direct from the permanent live connection, not the dimmer switch).  If your fan is just a variable speed non-timer fan, then personally I would be looking for an alternative solution.

Doc H.   

 
Thanks all, particularly @Doc Hudson - makes perfect sense now. It is a timer fan (sorry, I should have stated that in the original post) but there's no way I can run 50W of lamp through it (single bulb, replaced by coincidence today at 5W!) so it's a no-go.

The current switch is quite clunky - a definite clunk on the down pull and then the same again on release. I don't really want to start sticking extra switches or motion sensors in, because in all honesty it's not really the end of the world. I was just hoping there might be a really easy solution!   :)

 
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