Switching allegiances...

[Fozzer]

Having sorted out the Universal Measurement Problem, I am now left with the Universal Switch Problem...

Up for on, or down for on?

After a day of switching toggle switches, etc, on my various Aircraft, up for on, I find that I am going around my house wondering why my Kettle is not boiling, and why my Hoover is not hoovering, and why I keep switching my lights off!

You see, in my part of the world we switch switches DOWN for on, in a similar way that we drive on the left-hand side of the road, and unwind our Toilet Paper from the outside of the roll.

It takes quite a while to re-educate my brain in this confusing switching application.
I can look at a switch for ages, wondering what I should do to operate the toggle to electrify, or de-electrify, a particular piece of household electrical apparatus before me.. ..!

Therein lies my daily problem!

I wonder if Thomas Edison suffered from a similar dilemma?... ...!

Paul... ... ...!

[machineman9]

Is something wrong with FS9, Paul? You've got too much time on your hands and turned philosophical 

I have a dimmer switch... Clockwise is brighter - A bit like using screws... Lefty-loosey, righty-tighty!

[DaveSims]

Having sorted out the Universal Measurement Problem, I am now left with the Universal Switch Problem...

Up for on, or down for on?

After a day of switching toggle switches, etc, on my various Aircraft, up for on, I find that I am going around my house wondering why my Kettle is not boiling, and why my Hoover is not hoovering, and why I keep switching my lights off!

You see, in my part of the world we switch switches DOWN for on, in a similar way that we drive on the left-hand side of the road, and unwind our Toilet Paper from the outside of the roll.

It takes quite a while to re-educate my brain in this confusing switching application.
I can look at a switch for ages, wondering what I should do to operate the toggle to electrify, or de-electrify, a particular piece of household electrical apparatus before me.. ..!

Therein lies my daily problem!

I wonder if Thomas Edison suffered from a similar dilemma?... ...!

Paul... ... ...!

I've always heard the Brits do things backwards, but even your light switches?   ;D

[Dave71K]

As a fellow brit I have come across this myself, mainly because I have an aircraft style switch for the light in my bedroom and everyone who ever goes in asks me why it's on upside down.
Upside down being UP is ON, for me I just couldn't imagine pressing DOWN for ON it seems a bit anti climactic is turning on a switch can ever be climactic.

If I want to turn on my aircraft I wanna switch the switch UP because I want my plane to go UP, and if it's in my car I want to switch it UP(Forward) because that's the direction I want my car to go.

I've never understood why us Brits have down being on :S

[Fozzer]

I believe the reasoning for switching DOWN for off, (up for on), was that if one was given an electric shock by operating a switch, the unfortunate person grasping the switch would automatically fall DOWN, switching the appliance off at the same time, therefore disconnecting the electricity.

So, there endeth the first lesson... ...!

Paul...a Bright Spark in a World of darkness..... 8-)...!

[Steve M]

Don't get me started again.. 8-)

[Fozzer]

[quote]Is something wrong with FS9, Paul? You've got too much time on your hands and turned philosophical

[Apex]

And how did we (or you, not sure which) end up driving on the other side of the road?

[beaky]

Which side of the road means little to me... when I used to drive a radio taxi on the night shift, one of the old-timers told me "if you have the whole road, stay in the middle". Wise words.
But this light switch thing... it's just wrong. I was born in the USA, where UP is ON, but one of my most vivid memories of being barely tall enough to reach a light switch is thinking of it in terms of "when the airplane is UP, you can see it better". Seriously, that's how I taught myself to remember it.   Hard to argue with such logic. 

Also, I'm curious: are major switches, safety switches where big current is involved, set up the same way  "over there"? It just makes more sense to me, if things are going horribly wrong and you're more likely to be falling down than standing up, to have electrical switches set up so DOWN is OFF.   :-?

I'm also curious about ye old push-button light switches... they were pretty common in the States at one time, and the top one was ON. After your family retired the whale-blubber lamps, Foz, did you start using the push-button switches, or the ultra- modern toggles that we know today? And was the top one ON, or OFF?

I'm not sure how any of that applies to panel switches on airplanes, but I guess you can always edit the files so they are "correct". 

[machineman9]

[quote]And how did we (or you, not sure which) end up driving on the other side of the road?

[G.K.]

why my Hoover is not hoovering,

You know where the hoover is?!!!!!!


For me it's the same as the "G spot".....location a complete and utter bloomin mystery.

[Fozzer]

why my Hoover is not hoovering,

You know where the hoover is?!!!!!!


For me it's the same as the "G spot".....location a complete and utter bloomin mystery.

My "Hoover" is my favourite Spider Trap...

...and the details of the location of the magic "G" spot, appear somewhere in my manual of; "How to do it"... ...!

(Forever a total mystery to me, as well)... ....!

Paul.... ... ... ...!

[Apex]

Right, 240 volts, so we're on 120 over here.

[RickG]

[quote]

And why are some of my door keys upside down?

[Apex]

Ah ha, so that's why keys point upward.  OK.   Thanks.  Another one of life's mysteries explained.