The lighswitch to the tracklights by the dining area in my living room had been on the fritz for the past weeks, and yesterday it finally gave out. Here's the switch:


So I removed the cover and saw this!


Ok, dunno why there are batteries there, but let's take it off and we can install a regular switch, right? No... here's what's behind the above:


THE FUCKING WALL!
There's no outlet. OK so clearly this is some form of RF device that talks to some receiver. The problem is I have no clue where the receiver is. The tracklight doesn't seem to have anything on it. It's wired up normally as far as I can see.

Does anyone know what I'm dealing with, and what to look for? I replaced the batteries but it still doesn't work, so I'm thinking the receiver's batteries are probably shot as well (if it's got batteries, it makes sense for it to be fed by AC). I have a suspicion this is somehow tied into the alarm system.

I've been living in this condo since late '04, and it's been great, but the previous owners had odd things left behind that I run into every once in a while. This is one example, and I have no idea what I'm looking at.

 

Looks like a wireless wall switch.

They are used with you want a light or something on a switch that does not have one wired in. You install a small RF receiver between your lamp and the wall outlet and then install the wall switch wherever you want it.

 

Receiver will not have batteries. You may need to tell the transmitter what channel to use. Try to find the manual online.

 

any new cordless phones get installed recently?

 

I had a similar problem with my ceiling fan a couple weeks ago. I have no clue why the remote failed. I ended up having to take the fan down and re-locate the antenna.

 

Find out where the lights are wired to their power source (your house' electrical wiring). Between the power source and the track lights, there is a remote receiving unit. Hopefully it is just the antenna, but the receiving unit might just be bad. Hopefully the track lighting doesn't have the receiving until built into it...

I too have one in my ceiling fan. I had one in both my bedroom and in my living room. The originals (both the lowes brand) both gave out, so I took the one in the living room out completely and replaced the one in my bedroom with a hunter brand and it has had no problems.