A newbie question… with limited experience/knowledge.
I want my electrician to connect a Clipsal 30PBBPL-WE light switch (momentary bell press with light) fitting into a standard “light switch panel” to trigger my Merlin garage door controller.
I have a spare remote for the garage door which has a 3V CR2032 battery.
The light switch obviously handles 240V for the mechanism and built-in LED light on momentary press, but I then need the electrician to connect it inline to the remote control sitting behind the panel (in the space of the wall).
What could someone use as a standard component to drop the 240V down to 3V and wire in to the remote control circuit? (eg. a 240V power-supply outputting 3V inline, or a ‘relay’, or some other voltage-step-down thing??)
I am assuming the “momentary” push button affect of the switch will mimic the internal switch on the circuit board if wired up directly (and correctly) to it? Of course, this needs final testing.
Any tips on what to search for to describe a solution to the electrician who may think I’m crazy!
Cheers, Mark
NOTE: I should have made it clear, directly wiring across to the garage door from the switch through the house would be too troublesome with my current build, so trying with the “remote control” as a solution.
We can’t help out with the wiring but to re-create a button press from a wireless system like the Clipsal unit you could use one of the logic level relays from this topic: Getting started with hacking your electronics
And some wireless device to interface with it. I’m not sure what the best solution may be but the one that springs to mind would be a home automation setup like HomeAssistant (sounds like youre getting there!)
Thankfully you wont need a sparky for this solution as well!
Hi Mark
If this proposed switch is inside the house what is wrong with just mounting the remote on the wall where the switch is going to go. There lots of small plastic cradle types of things out there. I am sure that one would suit your remote. No wiring, job done.
Cheers Bob
True… but, the non-techno household members don’t like that the remote has 4 similar buttons and I was trying to make it match in with a control panel board of about 6 multi-gang light-switches for the house and other items like alarm/aircon, etc. The Clipsal “fits-in-a-standard-australian-light-switch-space-with-a-trigger-light-on-momentary-click” just seemed perfect. I will try find a Merlin compatible (or multi-brand) single button unit online, in case there’s something better than the standard multi-button options.
I am still reading up (trying to understand previous post by Liam) about a wireless button system solution…
Hi Mark
If the remote is just going to be in the wall cavity somewhere near the switch what is the problem. you have to hack into the remote anyway to get access to the required button connections so why not wire your switch direct. Just because it is in a wall plate with a switch normally used for 240V does not mean it HAS to be 240VVAC. It could just be another switch connected across the remote button couldn’t it.
Cheers Bob
Could be a bit of a drama when you need to change the remote battery. They do go flat in time.
Thanks Bob.
Yes, had thought that would be the simplest method originally, and the whole panel does have access to get to the battery. I may have to start with this method.
It all got complicated when I saw the nice looking Clipsal momentary switch with LED. I can use it for sure direct to the button inside the remote, but the LED on the front switch doesn’t show up with the 3V supply, so I thought it wouldn’t take much to sort out if properly wired up (to 240V). In the end, it seems complicated to shift down to the 3V to trigger the remote (from 240V)… but this is all good experience, as I’ve been meaning to learn more about electronics for some time. Having pulled apart the switch now (I’ll get another one to install) and got to see the mini circuit board that is used to reduce the voltage to the LED inside… so, I’m learning and having fun . I was thinking of bypassing the inline 10K ohm resistors that lead to the (sm) LED to see if it would go better with the 3V source. I don’t know how to calculate all this, so I’ll feed the 3v in and do some voltage/amp testing to see what it’s doing to the 3V. There are 2 x 10K ohm resistors at either side of the LED (L & N leads) that go through a 4 pin chip with “K H6” labelled on it. I’ll jump the 1st 10K resistor and see what that does… if I can see some more light emitting I’m heading in the right direction.
Ok. I’m not seeing anything on these momentary bell-press switches about double-pole versions, but they are on the “rocker” switch versions (for some reason?)… but I dislike the rocker-switch look and feel.
I will play with the LED circuit and see if I can adjust it to 3V and go with that for now. Thanks for your input and ideas.
If it’s helpful, note that you can probably find a cheap enough one-button remote that’s compatible with Merlin controllers on Ebay or the like - if having 4 buttons will upset other users. For 20 bucks and a press of the ‘learn new remote’ button you could save a lot of faffing…
Also, if that doesn’t appeal: Typically remotes have an operating/battery good LED built in, that lights up when pressed, so perhaps you could replace that with wires back to the Clipsal switch one, instead?
Whatever you do, please don’t mix 240V and low voltage wiring in one switch. They don’t promise isolation across internal pole connections, even though it may exist… Changing the battery may get needlessly exciting…
Thanks for your suggestion. I will search again, but I didn’t seem to find any products previously that suited.
On the 240V, definitely I’m not touching that side of it, even if I thought the electrician might entertain my ideas on the combo. I’m now just working on an isolated 3V solution with the garage controller directly. As you have suggested it could be using the LED points from the controller - I’ll consider giving that a go, as that would solve the issue.
I was getting into the whole process of learning about the different circuits/components, etc - so, it’s all been a fun exercise to investigate… for a beginner.
The controller’s LED is an even smaller surface-mounted unit compared to the switch pcb - but, I could try removing it from the board and connecting with wires, although my single-point soldering skills will probably be landing a blob that’s wider than the whole LED!
I’ll report back if I succeed with the finished result - to close off this chat with everyone.
This item will do it. AC 220V Optocoupler Isolation Module 1 Channel Voltage Detector Board TTL 3-5V SCM Testing for Microcontroller Adaptive PLC 24V
It is available in several different forms from many suppliers. The optioisolator is rated for a minimum of 3V, which is marginal in your case, but if you configured it with the output transistor in open collector mode I think it would be quite reliable. Note that the input resistor will get quite hot at 240V in an enclosed case, so it could be replaced with a higher resistance and/or higher wattage.
Hi All
There has been a lot about “3V”. just where does this fit into the picture. Just because the remote has a 3V battery does not mean the operating button on the remote has anything to do with that. What appears on the button could be anything So where in this remote are you going to connect this 3V and what are you going to do with it.
Of course if you have hacked the remote or got a circuit for it this would explain. But to the great unwashed this is a mystery. If you have established that you need 3V to operate the remote it would be nice if you let everyone know.
Don’t forget of course that the 240V is AC and the 3V battery is DC.
Of course if the remote button just switches 3V to somewhere to operate why not just extend the 3V from the remote.
Or if the remote just switch something to ground just wire the switch across the button.
The LED is another problem. You don’t want to operate this from the remote battery or you might have to change the battery too often.
Cheers Bob
…There has been a lot about “3V”. just where does this fit into the picture. Just because the remote has a 3V battery does not mean the operating button on the remote has anything to do with that.
Thanks again Bob. Unfortunately, that’s where my “newbie” status defined what I thought had to be. As the battery in the garage controller is 3V, I was just thinking I had to match that to activate the switch, else I could be introducing a greater voltage/amps onto the controller circuit - if it wasn’t 3V source?
What appears on the button could be anything So where in this remote are you going to connect this 3V and what are you going to do with it.
I was thinking I would just duplicate the “switch” mechanism with wires extending to my “light panel” switch. Although I am not 100% sure which pins to wire up, but that was some of my journey to work out.
I am now looking at simply extending the switch from the remote by adding wires to the new switch, and then I was going to try desolder the LED as well, and extend that to the external switch.
That would hopefully keep the controller to the 3V original specs and keeps the external panel switch off the 240V, and simply masks the garage controller hiding behind the panel when operating.
That’s my current plan, so I’ll give it a go soon and post the results.
[Not quite the electronics project I thought I was getting into, but if it works I’ll be happy and it’s given me the push to try something else afterwards… even if it’s a bit simple now.]
That is probably the most fool proof way of doing it at this stage. Even if it means 4 wires out of the remote.
There are more elegant ways around this but it would entail finding out (on paper or reverse engineering) EXACTLY what function these components play and in the case of the LED how is it driven.
I would think that a schematic and description of the remote would be out of the question so it would have to be a reverse engineering exercise. Unfortunately being a “newbie” as you put it I don’t think you would have the expertise to do this.
As you have the remote and we do not, I think the 4 wires would be the simplest approach. If the remote is in the wall cavity in the same area as the switch panel this might not be too cumbersome.
But please get some help soldering the wires to that little switch and transplanting the LED. Remember the LED is polarity conscious. I suggest this as if you are too much of a “newbie” your soldering skills may not be up to this task. No criticism intended but this is probably fact. It may save some damage to the remote board.
Cheers Bob
don’t like that the remote has 4 similar buttons and I was trying to make it match in with a control panel board of about 6 multi-gang light-switches for the house and other items like alarm/aircon, etc. The Clipsal “fits-in-a-standard-australian-light-switch-space-with-a-trigger-light-on-momentary-click” just seemed perfect. I will try find a Merlin compatible (or multi-brand) single button unit online, in case there’s something better than the standard multi-button options.
. I was thinking of bypassing the inline 10K ohm resistors that lead to the (sm) LED to see if it would go better with the 3V source. I don’t know how to calculate all this, so I’ll feed the 3v in and do some voltage/amp testing to see what it’s doing to the 3V. There are 2 x 10K ohm resistors at either side of the LED (L & N leads) that go through a 4 pin chip with “K H6” labelled on it. I’ll jump the 1st 10K resistor and see what that does… if I can see some more light emitting I’m heading in the right direction.
- but, I could try removing it from the board and connecting with wires, although my single-point soldering skills will probably be landing a blob that’s wider than the whole LED! 
