Why do switches click?
This video concept has been in my head for years. I finally decided to make it!
I have no idea what makes a good thumbnail for this. I'm just gonna roll with that one and hope for the best!
Comments (26)
ooh awesome thanks for this! Shortly after watching this, I noticed some of my switches didn't click at all. I saw in the comments they might be mercury based. I found some old ones I removed, and sure enough, yup, they're mercury based. The three way switches have two mercury switches each.
Great video on an unlikely subject! I didn’t think the story of car brake lights or street lighting etc would be interesting either - but all fascinating. Great channel.
Hey, one more piece of information that I feel was left out of this video, one of the challenges of building a smart light switch is actually waiting until the voltage is at the 0 cross before opening or closing the relay. Many brands, including likely many cheaper brands do not do this, and although it's hard to notice this, it will likely effect the life of the relay in the smart switch, just as the cheap switches poor clicking hurts the life of the regular switch. How do I know this? I actually work for one of the companies who's switches you referenced in this video and work directly with the engineers who are responsible for ensuring that the relay is opened / closed at the right moment. Let me know if you have any other questions.
When opening the switch it would be foolish to time the opening at zero. AC current is not necessarily in phase with AC voltage. AC contacts should be opened at zero current, not zero voltage.
I'd love to see a TC2 video where you can include clips of high voltage switches arching out a jacobs ladder electricity bolt of lightning 🌩 https://youtu.be/3WU6xtPWyrc
Nice to see you using the British 13 amp plug and socket as the example of "totally safe". We do some things right over this side of the pond! :-) Good video, Alec.
very nice. I have shouted at people for using switches wrong.
Great video. Really nice. But I don’t understand why you included the “you’ve been lied to” part. The statement is to big, and it doesn’t get answered in the same big way...
When I was a kid we installed them upside down and called them dark switches!!!
This is so cool! I haven't even watched it yet but I just replaced a light switch and took the broken one apart yesterday. Perfect timing.
It videos like these that remind me why your channel is most emphatically worth supporting!
1500 Watts!
Here is a sentence I never thought I would say: Your video essay on switches was really interesting. I think you could make a great vid on light switches as a whole (history of them, good bad and ugly, the "silent" Mercury light switches, etc)
Two minutes in: "Oh come on, what is this nonsense? Better get interesting fast.." 😒 Five minutes in: "Huh.. Never thought about switches in that way. 🤔 Cool!" 👍
from a British perspective it all looks really flimsy. Which way up does the socket go? Well, it doesn't go that way but it might if you force it a bit. Those light switches though... here's the inside bit which you but into a frame.
Great video, and I feel good use of stock footage. Just enough to get the point across, but not too much to be distracting
Maybe a video about why we used to have to wrap fuse wire around circuits in the house panel, and now we use breakers. How do breakers work?
Don’t forget the Love Child of Fuses and Circuit Breakers: Plug Type Circuit Breakers!
Did you know with a Electrical Discharge Machining you can drill through anything conductive. Using what you demonstrated. Please remove link if needed. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpHYBz7ToII
If you are old enough, you can remember the totally silent "mercury" light switches!
Yep! Essentially, they had a glass envelope like the old-style thermostats with 2 bare contacts poking through and a big drop of mercury. Married people liked them in their bedroom closets so they could turn the closet light on without waking their spouse.
WOW! That was fun! Let’s do it again...
Hmm. Wouldn't a clicky switch inherently require LESS debouncing than a non-clicky one, for the very same reason that clicky wall switches minimize arcing? A clicky switch will transition faster to a stable state in either direction, while a non-clicky one might flicker a few more times. What am I missing?
The harder the contacts slam into each other, the more they will bounce off and back and off etc. If you got a magnet involved, that would be especially clicky and reduce bounce a whole lot. However, you'd need mechanical assistance getting them apart.
Great video! Love the comedy while learning!
The fact that there is a video about this makes me love this channel even more