# Does this household device exist?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-household-device-exist/613003>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 16, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-household-device-exist/613003 "2012-02-16T03:25:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-household-device-exist/613003/1 "2012-02-16T03:25:38Z")

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I have an outlet on one side of the room that’s connected to the wall switch. On the other side of the room is a non-switched outlet with a lamp plugged into it. I want the lamp to be switchable by the wall switch, but I don’t want to run an extension cord across the room on a permanent basis.

So I envision a two part device. Part A plugs into the switched outlet, and consists of a transmitter, and maybe an extra outlet so you don’t lose use of that outlet. Part B plugs into the un-switched outlet and provides an outlet to plug the lamp into, as well as a receiver. When the wall switch is on, A sends a signal to B. As long as B gets the signal, it provides power to the lamp. When the wall switch is off, the transmitter gets no power and shuts off. B sees no signal, so it cuts power to the lamp.

Viola, the unswitched outlet becomes virtually connected to the wall switch.

So does this exist? Or anything like it?

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-household-device-exist/613003/2 "2012-02-16T03:38:19Z")

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Yes. They are [remote light switches](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=f&oq=remote+light+switch&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GZAG_enUS448US448&q=remote+light+switch&gs_upl=0l0l0l5517lllllllllll0&aqi=g5). Available all over the place.

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**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-household-device-exist/613003/3 "2012-02-16T14:29:32Z")

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Note that the switch part of those doesn’t plug in though - it’s usually some kind of battery powered RF or IR sender than just sends a signal to the receiver when you switch it on or off. I had one of those a few years ago that sometimes took more than one try to get turned on or off.

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**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-household-device-exist/613003/4 "2012-02-16T14:47:55Z")

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Hmm… yeah, that’s close. Maybe close enough. But I don’t want to install a second wall switch when I already have one, and I don’t want a remote that I can lose. But at least now I have the right search term to look for. I wasn’t even sure what to call such a switch-switching-doodad.

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**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-household-device-exist/613003/5 "2012-02-16T14:48:51Z")

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Yup. We’ve got most of our living room lights on remote switches, because they’re behind other furniture and hard to get to.

I think they came from Lowe’s or somewhere similar.