Bye Bye Standby double wall switch

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:56:15 +0000

I’m a big fan of Bye Bye Standby and am slowly replacing all switches and lights with their products. One thing that is sorely missed though, is a double wall switch. The kind that sits at the bottom of your stairs and controls the lights upstairs and downstairs. Home Easy do one, but that protocol is not compatible. So I combined the best of both worlds and cobbled one together myself :)

Start by stripping all switches down to their bare PCBs. The idea is to use the push button switches inside the Home Easy HE308 switch and connect them to the push button switches from the Bye Bye Standby wall switches and then stuff it all in the wall.

Carefully solder wires to each BBSB switch and then solder them to the HE308. As the PCB of the HE308 connects some of the pins, it wouldn’t work when I tested it. No problem though, it just meant that I had to get my faithful Dremel out and dremel away all PCB lines surrounding the switches.

Make sure you test it once it’s all been connected up, not just when you’re finished putting it back into your wall ;) At this point in time, make sure you have set the address codes to the correct modules.

As the whole package is larger than my backbox, I removed the bottom from a plastic backbox and used a hammer and old screwdriver to chisel away at the wall behind it. Once I had everything inside and made sure that it was still working, I discovered that the edges from the backbox were larger than the switch itself. Doh!

I took everything out again and carefully reduced the edging until it all fitted neatly underneath the switch.

For those who are worried about the batteries, they are no more difficult to replace than a normal BBSB switch. I would replace both at the same time though if you have to :)

Awooga!!! » bye bye standby

Bye Bye Standby double wall switch