this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
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Researcher has developed, at a cost of less than one dollar, a wireless light switch that runs without batteries, can be installed anywhere on a wall and could reduce the cost of wiring a house by ... (www.ualberta.ca)
submitted 11 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Researcher has developed, at a cost of less than one dollar, a wireless light switch that runs without batteries, can be installed anywhere on a wall and could reduce the cost of wiring a house by ...::A U of A engineering researcher has developed a wireless light switch that could reduce the cost of wiring a house by as much as 50 per cent.

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[–] kae@lemmy.ca 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

?

Wireless switches — consisting of a transmitter on the switch and a receiver near a light fixture or other appliance — have been around for many years, and have been proven that they can reduce the material and labour cost for wiring houses, says Kambiz Moez, director of electrical engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, but they require batteries to operate.

So the product already exists, what is novel here is a concept to harvest RF energy I stead of batteries.

[–] Nighed@sffa.community 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I imagine replacing the battery in your light switch in the dark (because you can't turn the lights on) is probably rather annoying. This sounds like a cool idea.

[–] realharo@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Replacing the battery in your light switch is something you do maybe once every 3 years.

And you can still use your phone as a backup remote.

[–] venusenvy47@reddthat.com 1 points 11 months ago

I wouldn't call it "harvesting" if you have operate power transmitters on each floor of the house. "Energy harvesting" usually means you are using something that is already present in the environment.

"each floor would have one or two RF (radio frequency) power transmitters to powe r up all switches inside the house."