What can I replace this 80s push button switch with?

March 22, 2020 10:59 AM

My house has a few odd push button switches for exterior lights that don’t work well and need to be replaced. What are these and what is the current day equivalent?

The house was built in the mid 80s. The button above toggles between on and off with each press and there is a small slider beneath that appears to act as a hold function. They are extremely erratic in how long the light remains on, the brightness, etc.

posted by q*ben to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

They almost look like an X-10 WS467 wall switch. The small slider could be a dimmer. Take the plate off and look for a manufacturer and model number, if you find those you could google for a replacement. You might be able to replace them with some kind of dimmer switch. By any chance are you using LED bulbs with the push button switches?
posted by Rob Rockets at 11:07 AM on March 22, 2020

I think you can replace them with any type of new switch that you'd like. It sounds from the extra info you gave that the lights may be dimmable. If you want to keep that feature, buy a switch like this that has a dimmer on it, like one of these.
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal at 11:12 AM on March 22, 2020

If the timer function is important to you there are many options available! The switches you have shouldn't have any special wiring involved (their special function is internal to the device, not wired in the wall), so I think the question really is, what do you want them to do? Timer, dim, or just regular degular?
posted by Makwa at 11:17 AM on March 22, 2020

OP seems to be describing a timer rather than a dimmer. But agreed with above, any switch will do. There are a variety of timed switches available if that feature is still desired.
posted by sjswitzer at 11:20 AM on March 22, 2020

I am using LED fixtures and am seeing flickering which makes me feel like even in the “on”position I’m not getting full voltage. We don’t need dimming or timer functions so it’s great to know we can replace with a normal switch. Thanks!
posted by q*ben at 12:50 PM on March 22, 2020