New wireless wall mount switches

[martymonster]

I was looking at the new wireless saturn wall plates with a view to replacing some standard light switches so that they can be connected to my wired c-bus system using the wireless gateway.
My concern is that all the standard light switches are mounted horizontaly and the new wireless Neo and Saturn wall plates are mounted vertically. The installation pdf shows this as it shows a 'this side up' on the rear of the plate and that the c-clip mounting flange must be placed on the left side of the unit.

Can these new items be mounted horizontaly in the same hole as the standard light switches and can the c-clip then be mounted at the bottom side instead of the left side.

It just seems strange that the new units which are meant to replace standard units have to be mounted differently and therefore cannot use the same hole.

Martin

[ashleigh]

You can mount them with any orientation you like (In fact I have all my Neos mounted horizontally).

Whats important when you do that is to do them all the same way, so the "top" becomes the "right hand side".

That way you know which buttons to hold during the learn process.

(The only reason for "this way up" is so that the top buttons used for Learn are always at the top, otherwise its really hard to write the installation instructions.)

[martymonster]

Thankyou, I was hoping that was the case.
Are your units wireless or wired?
Just asking in case it does affect the sending of wireless commands.

Martin

[ashleigh]

Wireless - I eat my own cooking :-)

[Don]

Don't forget the polarization issue! ALL simple antennas exhibit some sensitivity to polarization of the electromagnetic field they are working with. You can have vertical, horizontal, and circularly polarized electromagnetic fields. The C-Bus wireless was designed work with vertical polarization, hence the suggested mounting orientation, and the shape of the plug adaptors. Vertical polarization allows a low "radiation angle" in the presence of a ground plane.

This means that in an installation with a reinforced concrete floor, vertical mounting will work just great. In the same case with horizontal mounting, range may be reduced. If the ceiling is conductive as well, well then you live in a waveguide and everything will be just peachy (nulls are possible in any installation except free space but you would have to stand awfully still because the quoted range is conservative).

Try and mount all the units with the same (horizontal) polarization. By the way, The remote control is best used when held vertically, so that the pointy end aims at your boots, and thanks to the loop antenna design within, some horizontal and some vertical polarization exists in the radiation from the remote control, so it should be equally useful in either case when held this way(note: I measured the highest field strength at a test site with vertical polarisation when the remote was oriented pointy side down, with the front of the remote facing at right angles to the target, as if the field squirts out of the seam between the front abd rear plastic covers. The remote is very omnidirectional for radiation with horizontal polarization).

Don

[martymonster]

Tanx for that, as i will be replacing normal switches which are mounted horizontaly, the replacement wireless ones will also be mounted horizontaly both upstairs and downstairs. The wireless gateway will be centrally mounted downstairs, but high up.

Martin