Poles Apart: The Pressing Matter of Quality Switchgear In Car vs Home.

IMAG0425
Switches. Car reviewers love to get all emotional when it comes to the feel of a good switch. Poor switch action can mark the end of an otherwise positive review, which is not really fair. It’s a bit like how the interior plastics are criticised in every successive Corvette release. You don’t buy a Corvette on the strength of interior ambience, and you never will. But a crappy window switch in an otherwise well resolved interior will stand out like a pickled onion in a bowl of Jello.
So, if the feeling of switchgear is so important, and clearly, it is, how come we only ever crow about it in our cars?
I’m doing some renovation work at home at the moment and had cause to replace some of the light switches last weekend. I visited my local DIY Enormo-centre and surveyed all the switches available; they came in a  number of colours and finishes and before I made my purchase decision I tried every single one of them for feel. And, of course, they all felt exactly the same. Whereas a BMW switch is leagues apart from a Suzuki one, there’s every chance that the light switch in my little hovel feels every bit as good, or bad, as the ones in Buckingham Palace.
My question is, are there other things that drive us crazy in our cars but which we don’t bat an eyelid over at home?

IMAG0427
Every morning I rock up at the office and am confronted by the above light switch. Look at that. 7 gangs on it, and I have to switch every single one of them, click click click click click click click, day in, day out, a task from which absolutely no pleasure can be derived and which I spend the next three hours having to cheer myself up from.
Then, later on the day, in my own living room I am made to go through the same ordeal one more time. My light switches, every one of them, feel just the same as the miserable ones at work. The more time I spend considering that fact, the more galling I find it. Yet, nobody has ever shown me an alternative.
Yes, there are remote control ones, touch-dimmers, rotary dimmers, RF linked multi-room setups, but I have yet to find a regular light switch which feels anything like a premium product. I make do with functionality over feeling. Whereas, in the tactile, claustrophobic environment of my car, I need switches which are rewarding to manipulate. That it does what it’s supposed to do is no longer enough. I press for pleasure.
What other areas of operational satisfaction could our homes be taught a lesson on by our cars?
(Images are copyright Chris Haining and Hooniverse 2015 and are of light switches. Do not adjust your computer, you are still reading a largely car-based website.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

  1. nanoop Avatar
    nanoop

    “local DIY Enormo-centre” well, that’s not exactly where german luxo barge maker would go shopping for parts. There are suppliers for door knobs that are silent yet reassuring, switches that are determined but polite etc.. To the user, the interface is the product, and some people apply this to appliances and houses, too. For a price, of course…

    1. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar

      Maybe it’s just a UK thing then?
      I have never, ever visited a house here where flicking a light switch varies even slightly from what I’d expect it to. I’ve therefore arrived at the assumption that nobody here cares about their light switches, apart from that they do what they’re supposed to.
      Or maybe every house I’ve visited is owned by peasants.
      Maybe I need to meet better people.

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        …and that’s the slippery slope that is thinking too much about switches. Recalibrate by turning the lights on and off in your Rover.

      2. nanoop Avatar
        nanoop

        Well, the problem with switches is the same as with national economics: there is no middle class anymore. Us regular people use regular standard light switches, and the top-one-percenters have moved over to Internet-of-Things houses, where all switches are wireless, or something.
        A good, nice, robust light switch that’s between the harbour home freight depot versions and the touch/wireless wall gadgets is internet/mail order stuff only, I’m afraid.
        (There are some “designer” versions of the regular stuff, but that’s, as you said, the cheapo switch mechanics with extra bling – to wring extra cash from Oliver Twist, home owner. )

      3. Rover 1 Avatar
        Rover 1

        We’ll be sad to see you go.

      4. Manic_King Avatar
        Manic_King

        Siemens has quite nice line of switches, a bit more expensive than Berker or similar mid-range stuff but could be even worth it. Not sure about UK availability, you have different sockets and so on….
        https://mall.industry.siemens.com/mall/en/in/Catalog/Products/2409999?tree=CatalogTree

  2. LEROOOY Avatar
    LEROOOY

    I wish each light switch in my home was a hefty circuit breaker or snappy gang of 7 switches. I would say: “Hold on to your butts” (cigarette precariously dangling from lower lip optional) each time I light up a room with a satisfying ka-thunk.
    I don’t know why people are so into smoothness. Take your thunk and like it, it means something is definitely on.

    1. Citric Avatar
      Citric

      I have one old timey switch in my house that has a thunk and also the uncertainty of not knowing whether something is on or not.

  3. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    You have the fancy schmancy wide light switches. Those things cost $3 or $4 each! I’ve never lived in a house that didn’t have the narrow little $0.97 (why does my tablet have the Yen symbol, but not the cents symbol?!?) contractor grade switches.

    1. Krautwursten Avatar
      Krautwursten

      Wait until you see German light switches. What am I saying, light PANELS. And it’s got a reassuring -thack- sound to it to make you remember that the rock hard plastic they’re made of will probably outlast all of us.

    2. wunno sev Avatar
      wunno sev

      SOLUTION: one yen is about one cent. next time just say 97 yen. you’ll be within 20 percent.

    3. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      In Norway, light switches cost about 10$ each and upwards, unless you really opt for the cheapest panel switches. Here’s the evolution of standard Norwegian light switches – oh, yes, someone cares – and the 1950 ones that require the most physical movement are also the most satisfactory ones. Before that again, rotating switches were in, requiring a real grip.
      http://www.magasinet-norskehjem.no/images/stories/artikler/ELanlegg/brytere-1960-1990.jpg

    4. Alff Avatar
      Alff

      When I rewired our home I went for those … for no particular reason. I’ve since decided that they’re not any more satisfying than the 97-centers and returned to the less expensive one for every wiring job.

  4. Frank T. Cat Avatar
    Frank T. Cat

    I’m totally fine with the mushy rubber dome buttons in my cars, and the plastic switchgear that feels like it’s gonna break every time I use it (looking at you, Volvo.) My keyboards though? Buckling springs all the way. IBM Model M ftw.
    Probably due to me spending a lot more time sitting at my desk than sitting in my car. Plus I grew up with plastic fantastic cheap late 80’s, 90’s and early 00’s car interiors, but I’ve always used a quality keyboard (Apple Extended Keyboard II, Dell AT101, IBM Model M etc.)

    1. Cool_Cadillac_Cat Avatar
      Cool_Cadillac_Cat

      I’m 100% with you on the keyboard bit. I have a Razer Blackwidow Ultimate, and older one, and I’ll never, again, go back to a non-mechanical keyboard.
      My first job…ages ago…had me typing on a dumb terminal, and it had the M keyboard. Still remember them fondly.
      I have the same requirements in mice/trackballs. Kensington for trackballs, Utechsmart for mice. The Venus recently replaced my 2001 vintage Kensington expert mouse pro.
      I really do value the way controls feel on certain items…remote controls, stereo knobs/switches (my 1978 Pioneer SX-780 is W126 Mercedes-like in the feel of the all the controls), and I really value the feel in automobiles, too.
      However, home light switches? Meh. I’ve had the old, loud *thwack* ones, and while sure, you knew when it moved, they aren’t subtle…at all.

      1. KoshNaranek Avatar
        KoshNaranek

        Completely Agree with the Keyboard issue. I held on to computers far too long so that I could continue to use my IBM AT keyboard. I finally settled on the Das Keyboard as a replacement for it. It has USB.
        As far as house switches go, consider Hospital grade switches and sockets. They have nice action because they are certified not to arc in high oxygen environments.

  5. Andrew Avatar

    I’ve been driving a 5-ton, 32′ box truck for work and it mostly feels as you’d expect it to. Sturdy, heavy. Everything is loud from the starter to the electric brake booster. The e-brake has a nice mechanical feeling, the steering is pretty direct and the pedals offer good resistance. But then there’s the switch for the exhaust brake. It takes almost no pressure to move and when it clicks into the on position, it sounds like you just broke it, every time.
    As an aside, it takes no special drivers’ license or training to drive this thing. It has hydraulic brakes, which, according to the government, means anyone who can drive a car is qualified to drive it. That seems crazy to me.
    http://ca.internationaltrucks.com/StaticFiles/internationalTrucks/Trucks/DuraStar/content-gap/usage/dura_600x400_box.jpg

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Isn’t there a 3.5t limit on your license, like in Europe? I always thought license classes (this would be “B”) were harmonized across the Western world, at least. Also: Still looking for graphic designer’s work from the driver’s seat of this one?

      1. Andrew Avatar

        I doubt that, since driver licensing is done at the state level in USA and provincial level in Canada. I just looked it up and found the truck I drive must be right at the limit of what I can drive. If it had one more axle it would be right out. If you’re bored you can check out the B.C. license types here:
        http://www.icbc.com/driver-licensing/types-licences/Pages/Licence-classes-and-types.aspx
        Class 5 is the common one that almost all adults here hold.

      2. P161911 Avatar
        P161911

        I think 26000 lbs. Is the limit here in the US. It is common for an individual to rent a truck, similar to the one Andrew uses, when movig.

        1. Stu_Rock Avatar

          Those European limits are rather quaint. One of my personal vehicles would exceed those limits. Admittedly 11.8 tonnes is a bit ambitious for a lot of US drivers, though.

          1. P161911 Avatar
            P161911

            I have been driving for over 25 years. Back in December I moved and rented one of those big U-Haul trucks fot the first time. It was a white knuckle ride, especially on a busy expressway.

          2. Cool_Cadillac_Cat Avatar
            Cool_Cadillac_Cat

            Sounds familiar.
            Our motorcoach is about 28K lbs., close to 33K with the ZJ behind it and loaded for travel. Even with air brakes, because it’s private, no special licensing requirements. This goes for even the beastly 45K lb. Prevosts and the like.
            Air brakes I’ve found to be nothing special, they merely feel different, and you’ve gotta know how they work. No big deal…though there are plenty of idiots….
            I used to drive a tour bus, so I’m very comfy with this machine. Still, you should not be allowed to pilot 15 long tons (tonnes) with the same driver’s license and “training” acquired with an ’83 Chrysler LeBaron (K-car).

          3. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            Wow, I always just assumed that you had to have a bus license for these.
            License class C and CE (trucks and trucks with trailers) cost about 70000kr i Norway, ca 8600$. So you see that this is a natural cap for big RVs and the like.

          4. E34Less Avatar
            E34Less

            I think the part about airbrakes that gets people is that they turn ON when they fail. I was telling someone about that a few weeks ago and it blew their mind.

    2. E34Less Avatar
      E34Less

      I drive one of 3 Vanhool 2045s that my university owns on a pretty regular basis, and all of them have uncomfortably flimsy exhaust brake switches. One of the buses has a stalk on the column to control the level of retardation that is currently held in the off position with a rubberband because the lever is too heavy for the return spring.
      Can’t post a photo for some reason, but for context, a C2045 is a 26 ton 55 seat bus.

  6. Marshall Loveday Avatar
    Marshall Loveday

    OK, OK so vehicles have better switch gear than houses – but why don’t houses have a power window option?

    1. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      I would love a power sunroof for my office cubicle…

  7. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    “… like a pickled onion in a bowl of Jello.” Apparently you’ve joined one of my in-laws’ potlucks.

  8. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    “What other areas of operational satisfaction could our homes be taught a lesson on by our cars?”
    Well, just last Saturday night, around midnight, I was bemoaning the fact that the bar stools in my friend’s basement don’t have seat belts….

  9. Pixel . Avatar
    Pixel .

    This is the basement light switch in my pre-1900 house. IT was still hooked up to the original Knob & Tube wiring when I bought the house. When I rewired everything this switch got cleaned up & greased and re-installed. The buttons have the most satisfying clunk that lets you know they have been pressed.
    I’d love to replace the rest of the switches in the house with these, but from all reports the modern replicas don’t have the same satisfying feel.

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Very cool! Don’t really see it: In and out or do you move these? And how has this discussion about switches become so interesting…?

      1. Pixel . Avatar
        Pixel .

        Sorry for the bad pic, it was the only one I had handy. There are two separate circular buttons, one for off & one for on. When you push one in, the other one pops out.
        A better pic I found online.

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          My two year old could spend hours with such a switch…

        2. Maymar Avatar
          Maymar

          My grandma’s house (built in the early 70’s) has a similar light switch for the bathroom, along with switches for the fan in the panel (of course, it looks more modern than that). It’s extremely satisfying to use