The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[Kim]

Similarly, our dining room lacks a light switch by the kitchen door.  This is only a minor inconvenience as  a) you can't actually enter the back garden from the street without going over the neighbours fence, as the gate locks on one side  and  b) automagic lights.

But I did find a junction box terminating a mysterious wire in the floor void above where the switch *should* be, so someone obviously got half way to installing one before giving up.

[Mrs Pingu]

Grumble: our kitchen has a back door, but there is no light switch by the back door, so if you come in that way you have to walk through the room in the dark before you can turn the light on. 

I feel your pain - my garage has a switch at the door into the utility room - if I enter from the garage doors, with bike, I have to stumble over benches, bikes etc in the dark to switch the light on (and it may then get worse if the internal door, which can only be locked/unlocked from the house side, is locked and I have to exit the garage and enter by the house front door)

I keep exiting the garage in the morning and waiting until the automagic door has closed before I realise I've left the garage light on. Maybe I need to try out one of those motion sensitive bulbs.

[hatler]

Some idle pillock wired our house so that there's a landing light switch in the hall, but there's no hall light switch on the landing.

[cycleman]

Can't you leave the bikes front light on to find your way through the garage?

[Mrs Pingu]

Some idle pillock wired our house so that there's a landing light switch in the hall, but there's no hall light switch on the landing.

Ours is like that too.

[SoreTween]

My garage is in two parts, the rear workshop part bulk lighting has switches at each end.  The front garage part bulk lighting has switches at each end. Then there's the minimal lighting through the whole building which has switches at the front & rear doors. All fitted by me. And all rendered useless by my inability to leave a switch in the 'wrong' position. I frequently find myself walking through a dark building tripping over stuffs in order to leave all switcheses in the correct 'off' posituon.
Le sigh.

[Mr Larrington]

The landing lights in Larrington Towers have a switch at both ends of the scale and one is positioned such that it makes a reasonable fist of illuminating the hall too, in spite of the 180-degree turn in the stairs.  The hall light switch, though, is hidden behind whatever is hanging on a rail installed by Miss von Brandenburg without due care or attention.  This is why there’s a torch permanently positioned on the little shelf with the phone base station on it – so I can adjust the thermostat without groping through a bunch of coats.

[robgul]

Some idle pillock wired our house so that there's a landing light switch in the hall, but there's no hall light switch on the landing.

Does that pillock cover the Stratford-upon-Area too? - same issue here.

[robgul]

Can't you leave the bikes front light on to find your way through the garage?

Lights on a bike?? - I don't ride when I need lights to see (I do have some tiny "identifier lights" that I use if it's very dull)

[robgul]

Grumble: our kitchen has a back door, but there is no light switch by the back door, so if you come in that way you have to walk through the room in the dark before you can turn the light on. 

I feel your pain - my garage has a switch at the door into the utility room - if I enter from the garage doors, with bike, I have to stumble over benches, bikes etc in the dark to switch the light on (and it may then get worse if the internal door, which can only be locked/unlocked from the house side, is locked and I have to exit the garage and enter by the house front door)

I keep exiting the garage in the morning and waiting until the automagic door has closed before I realise I've left the garage light on. Maybe I need to try out one of those motion sensitive bulbs.

Sounds a bit like the usual situation I've been in the loft .... descend, push ladder up, start to close hatchway . . . reverse actions to switch off loft light

[Beardy]

Some idle pillock wired our house so that there's a landing light switch in the hall, but there's no hall light switch on the landing.

Does that pillock cover the Stratford-upon-Area too? - same issue here.

he was having an off day when he was doing suffolk because my stairs lights (calling the flat bit at the top of the stairs a landing would be somewhat grandiose) have a switch top and bottom. but the hall lights have a switch at each end but none upstairs. Oh, wait, I was the one who rewired my home. 

[Tim Hall]

  Like the Superb Owl

I read that and thought perhaps it was a variation on the Elf on The Shelf, so did some frantic web based research.
Then the penny dropped
Then the ROFL.

[Kim]

Elf On The Shelf can get in the bin, too.  And the trash for Leftpondian elves.

https://mastodon.lol/@TomatoSoup@mastodon.world/109421350613961872 refers

[Cudzoziemiec]

Our kitchen only had one door but where is the light switch? On the wrong side of the door, not in the kitchen at all. 

[robgul]

Our kitchen only had one door but where is the light switch? On the wrong side of the door, not in the kitchen at all. 

The light switches for our bathrooms (2 upstairs) and downstairs cloakroom all have light switches on the outside of the room - all normal rocker switches and avoid the awful pull-cord things required in such rooms - an excellent decision by the aforementioned errant electrician 

[rafletcher]

Maybe I need to try out one of those motion sensitive bulbs.

Why not a plug-in night light like this..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Photocell-Brightness-Adjustable-Babyliya-Lighting/dp/B08D63NJ1G/ref=zg_bs_10709371_sccl_4/262-3290019-8181153?psc=1

[Kim]

Our kitchen only had one door but where is the light switch? On the wrong side of the door, not in the kitchen at all. 

The light switches for our bathrooms (2 upstairs) and downstairs cloakroom all have light switches on the outside of the room - all normal rocker switches and avoid the awful pull-cord things required in such rooms - an excellent decision by the aforementioned errant electrician 

Pull switches are for entertaining cats and visiting Leftpondians (who boggle that we're so obsessed with electrical safety, and then take a 240V water heater into the shower with us).

[fimm]

At some point in the past our living room had the door moved from one end to the other, but the light switch was not moved at the same time, so you have to walk right through the room to turn the light on. My husband has "solved" this by buying smart bulbs which you can turn on and off using your phone...

[PhilO]

Our kitchen has no switch by the back door, so I fitted a ceiling lamp with a built-in PIR sensor and leave it switched on permanently.  You can also get rechargeable PIR lamps for the inside of wardrobes etc, which could be velcroed to a strategic part of the wall if you don't want to be bothered fitting a new lamp.

[Kim]

At some point in the past our living room had the door moved from one end to the other, but the light switch was not moved at the same time, so you have to walk right through the room to turn the light on. My husband has "solved" this by buying smart bulbs which you can turn on and off using your phone...

I'm strongly of the opinion that manually operating lamps from your phone, while undeniably useful on occasions, falls somewhat short of 'smart'.

Tie it to a MQTT event from a PIR or a door opening, or it being dark or something.  Otherwise you've just got a more complicated light switch.

(Voice commands occupy a creepy middle ground.)

[Beardy]

The biggest issue with voice commands is that most current systems rely on ‘someone else’s computer ™’ doing the voice decoding, an option of which I’m particularly fond

[fimm]

At some point in the past our living room had the door moved from one end to the other, but the light switch was not moved at the same time, so you have to walk right through the room to turn the light on. My husband has "solved" this by buying smart bulbs which you can turn on and off using your phone...

I'm strongly of the opinion that manually operating lamps from your phone, while undeniably useful on occasions, falls somewhat short of 'smart'.

I do not disagree... particularly when only his phone can turn off the lights and his phone is locked. I used the OFF switch...

[Kim]

At some point in the past our living room had the door moved from one end to the other, but the light switch was not moved at the same time, so you have to walk right through the room to turn the light on. My husband has "solved" this by buying smart bulbs which you can turn on and off using your phone...

I'm strongly of the opinion that manually operating lamps from your phone, while undeniably useful on occasions, falls somewhat short of 'smart'.

I do not disagree... particularly when only his phone can turn off the lights and his phone is locked. I used the OFF switch...

At which point only the switch can turn it on again, which is the other perennial problem with smart bulbs.

[fimm]

At some point in the past our living room had the door moved from one end to the other, but the light switch was not moved at the same time, so you have to walk right through the room to turn the light on. My husband has "solved" this by buying smart bulbs which you can turn on and off using your phone...

I'm strongly of the opinion that manually operating lamps from your phone, while undeniably useful on occasions, falls somewhat short of 'smart'.

I do not disagree... particularly when only his phone can turn off the lights and his phone is locked. I used the OFF switch...

At which point only the switch can turn it on again, which is the other perennial problem with smart bulbs.

Indeed.
Hopefully we will eventually get the place rewired and the switch moved to a more sensible spot.

[Beardy]

Or you could buy a switch that is comparable with your brand of smart bulb and stick it to the wall by the door. Yes, it will need its batteries changing from time to time, but it’s a lot less hassle than what seems to be going on.