Why do finnish lights switch work opposite to UK

[Tom and Jerry]

Turn the hall upside down.

This is definitely the best solution to your dilemma.

Here you go. This is a good example:

[bretti_kivi]

hey girrrrllls,

no, cool, i understand it's part and parcel of being in a different country - done it before, it's just nice to be "very aware" of some of the "wierd" stuff, 'cos otherwise it might end up costing me a packet.. but you guys seem really knowledgable and though i thought i knew some stuff, i realise i'm still just a turistti....

but getting smarter every day. thanks to you guys...


@t&j - sehr gut, danke schön... jetzt ich fühle mich noch wohler

[mikebrads]

I think part of it is the culture shock, these little differences that freak you out because you didn't realize how much of your reality is based on almost subconscious assumptions on "the way things are". But these things pass...

well, not so much freak out, as spark my curiosity

For most of of the differences between here and the UK, i prefer the Finnish system.

Also from the "board one afternoon, wonder why it's like this" question, me, and many others , have learnt that is wrong to do any electrical work in your appartment

[Tom and Jerry]

For most of of the differences between here and the UK, i prefer the Finnish system.

Also from the "board one afternoon, wonder why it's like this" question, me, and many others , have learnt that is wrong to do any electrical work in your appartment

Ah, your curiousity is funny indeed. Anyhow, this is the house you are looking for:



I'm waiting for the question why do Finns drive on the wrong side of the road.

[TobyA]

I don't think there is a UK standard... loads of bedrooms have both a pull cord switch and a normal switch by the door. Hence either up or down can be on or off, depending on which switch was last used.

There might be a normal way for electricians to do it if there is just one switch, but i must admitt I haven't noticed it in 30 yrs!

[kuteguy]

ok resurrecting an OLD thread .. cause it still reamins unanswered and it's puzzling me as to the origins of the [odd] design decision
why are the finnish light switches the other way around (I am not talking about cases where you have two switches in the room to turn on/off the same light - one in each end of the hall/room)

FYI> I have lived in 7 other countries and traveled to about 80 others .. Finland/Estonia (and Latvia?) are the only countries where the light switch is the other way around

[rupun]

Hi all,

What are the current prices in the Helsinki-Vantaa area for an electrician? I know one guy, and his estimate was about 110 Eurs for replacing broken two lamps outdoors, i.e. what I understand to be a max 20 minute job, i.e. switch off the mains, unscrew the lamps, disconnect the wires, connect the new lamps, hang them to the wall.

I left the lamps as is!!! For 110 Eurs, I can use the tiny light on my keys!!! Not to mention the moon helps!

[Honest]

Switches working opposite way was also one of my first observations when i came to Finland. Haven't found the answer why they do it this way, but of course there is no right or wrong way. It's just how you are used to it.

[AldenG]

ok resurrecting an OLD thread

You know there's a tax for that in Finland, right?

cause it still reamins unanswered and it's puzzling me

The investigation is still in committee. God, you foreigners can be impatient sometimes. It's only been nine years and they'll report when they have something to report.

BTW I'm still impressed that somebody managed to put their finger on the one and only thing that is standardized in the US.

[foca]

there's a standard for it in the UK. here there doesn't appear to be one (bizarre, no DIN standard? why not?) and so they're just on haphazard.

i'd seriously consider taking them off and turning them round.. it makes more sense the english way....

Bret

just do not start driving the English way...

[Bavarian]

Ah, but the English know how to drive on roundabouts.

[browndude]

Darned English, thinking they still have an empire!

[Rip]

FYI> I have lived in 7 other countries and traveled to about 80 others .. Finland/Estonia (and Latvia?) are the only countries where the light switch is the other way around

Really? https://www.google.com/search?safe=off& ... A6s2FWvjUE

and it seems I recall correctly that it as so in Germany too:
http://de.123rf.com/photo_7055982_close ... alter.html
http://www.ariva.de/forum/Meine-Frau-ha ... sen-453031

[Jukka Aho]

Suppose that instead of a beak-like, protruding mini lever-type switch (as found in some older installations) you had a vertical slider; for controlling a dimmer, perhaps.

What would be the natural position of the slider for the brightest setting — that is, when the light is fully lit (“ON”)? What about the dimmest setting (“OFF”)? (How do the sliders e.g. in sound mixing boards or stage light controllers typically control whatever parameter they’re supposed to control? Everyone also has a virtual mixer panel in their computer, controlling the volume of the various audio sources.)

Now, make the range of that slider control so short and sensitive that it begins to resemble an ON/OFF lever switch... so which position of the slider is ON and which is OFF again?

Then, to simplify the mechanics — as we don’t need that dimming function, anyway — make it back into a (protruding, beak-like) two-position lever switch.

Then, remove the lever so that only the base (on which the lever was originally attached to) remains. (Let’s assume the base was flat and not curved.) Enlarge the base. The base, just like the lever before it, will now be slightly tilted at an angle in either one of the two possible positions... facing downwards or upwards, so it becomes a modern rocker type light switch. Now, which angle is ON and which is OFF?

Or you could make the rocker back into a lever switch by super-gluing e.g. a small length of pencil perpendicular to it...


If not taking cues from the logic of slider-type controls, you could also think of the general logic of “up” and “down” as abstract concepts... Things have their “ups” and “downs” — “up” generally meaning something light, positive, busy; “down” being some sorry, quiet, darkish, dysfunctional state. Likewise, services (especially computer-based ones) can be “up” (online) or “down” (out of order, malfunctioning, shut down for maintenance), etc.

Then there’s also the logic of the switch “beak” pointing towards the ceiling (where the light fixture is typically located) or not pointing that way... or the face of a rocker-type switch facing the general direction of the ceiling (and the light fixture) or not facing that way.

And maybe also the (electrical) safety aspect of it perhaps being easier to flick a switch — especially a lever-type switch — downwards than upwards... either by accident or on purpose, when in haste or panic.

[Honest]

I'd again say it's not about logical or illogical, it's just that it is different in Finland than how it is mostly done at most of the places. So that was a bit strange feeling in the begining, not anymore!