Their rival at the time was Touch Plate. Those are also still in production.

What this pic does not show is the multiple master switching plates made for these systems.

Typically, one would be at the master bedroom, and another at the kitchen. These would have LV links duplicating the trigger function of each control solenoid. So one could sit at the bedside and fire off lights all over the home -- or turn them off, too.

It is NOT true that the lock-up of a plate-switch would jamb the entire system. Such lock-ups merely zap one solenoid at a time. Stuck contacts then leave the solenoid unable to change state/ switch.

Left on -- these solenoids then have power draining impacts on nearby solenoids -- making them iffy.

Todays IR guns can spot the locked up solenoid in a jiffy -- which can then be disconnected on the LV side. Thusly, the drain is gone.

Then it's a matter of finding out which wall-plate switch is stuck in a closed state.

Since these systems are fossils -- switch failures are to be expected. Conventional switches would've been long since replaced.

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BTW, these systems are also compatible with placing the solenoids all over the home -- with the full voltage conductors being switched at or near the light fixtures.

From such locations, a multi-wire LV harness/ cable assembly would weave around the rafters on back to central control points.

The result, either style, is to have 3-way and 4-way switching all over the home -- with master switching to boot.

Today X-10 and others have passed this approach by.

IIRC the GE solenoids even have a motor rating -- it's not big, but it's there.


Tesla