household light toggle switch for hi-lo-off?

Just thinking out loud a bit, but normal AC already fluctuates the power going to the bulb. The bulb will heat and cool a minute amount during each ± fluctuation, and probably about the same if a diode "wipes out" half the wave. This might induce some sort of fatigue in the filament, but I would guess that evaporation of the filament over time would be the dominant effect. I don't know, though.

They used to sell "lamp savers", a little disk that you put into an edison base lamp socket before your screwed in the light bulb. Is was essentially the same thing; a diode in series with the line connection. Cuts the energy use by 1/2, but cuts the lumen output by approximately 2/3 because of the cooling / heating cycle times, so you were either getting less light or over sizing the lamp to compensate and then using more energy to get the same lumens. The main benefit however was that they made the lamps last virtually forever. I used them all the time in places where you could not get to the fixtures to change bulbs easily, such as staircases and rooftop fixtures.

Actually, it appears they still sell them.

Bulb savers

Hey SSCpal,

Ya gonna come back and say "Thanks for the input."? or "No, that didn't work." or "Great suggestion!".

Something.

Alas, dream on. Not likely to happen.

Well, let's see; you have contributed a whopping 158 posts, and I use the word "contributed" loosely. You have no GA status.

My post had it's basic intended effect; to draw you back here. My specific intended effect was to get you to have some kind of discourse with us. Apparently, your hostile attitude makes that impossible.

So, never mind!

See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!

My hostility is in direct proportion to the ugliness of the poster. You pretend to be concerned about the manners of others; physician, heal thyself.

What the hey. It could just as well be portugalphilip, AGuest, or any other benighted dolt. No wonder Okies have such a bad reputation; though not deserved among the general number, idiots like SSCPal unfortunately drag the reputation down. The best fix for this would be for some fellow Oklahomans to rise up in arms.

Always a pleasure to read your rants, Tornado. Without you, CR4 would be such a dull, if professional and enlightening, place.

Ok, guys, so does anyone know where to find a switch that has Off-On-On function like (Off-Low-Hi) in progession (rather than center position being off?

This has a very practical use in starting such things as DC controllers that have large input capacitors that first need to be charged up but using an inrush inhibor first and then switching to all the way on to bypass that and directly connect after the inrush current is complete. (Otherwise circuit and switch damage can occur due to the very high inrush currents)

I know this is an old thread, but if you're reading this and you've not got an answer in the seven years since you posted (unlikely), use an inductor ahead of the capacitor to ramp the charging current.

Found this looking for a reason why my dimmable LED bulbs blink when switched to low. I have a low-off-hi switch in my vent-a-hood, made in Grapevine, TX. I bet there is a diode in my switch too. Thanks!

One of the halogens in the hood burned out and I wanted to switch to LED. It would be fun to figure out a fix. I sent a Q to the manufacturer.