Can one still get the silent mercury type light switches? I
recently replaced 2 60-watt light bulbs in a fixture with 2
CFL's that appear to work perfectly except that the lamp's
inrush current must be quite high for a few milliseconds. The
existing light switch is fairly new and is one of those
relatively quiet types. My wife noticed that a spark accompanied
by a faint odor sometimes happens when closing the switch.
Telling her that switching power supplies and similar stuff does
that is not selling to well.

The irony of all this is that the CFL's are actually safer due
to less heat in the fixture and about 1/4 the current. The bulbs
which are those cork-screw shaped lamps warn against connecting
to dimmers and photo cell switches so whatever I replace the
switch with needs to present normal AC to the lamps as well as
not making a visible or audible spark.

	If not for the environmental issues, a mercury switch is
the perfect solution.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
Systems Engineer
OSU Information Technology Department Network Operations Group
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