Arcing will still occur inside the mercury bulb, you just won't be able to smell it, and presumably it will be less visible. You might consider adding a small sealed (or solid state) relay into the electrical box with the light switch controlling the relay. One keyphrase you are looking for, however, is "intrinsically safe". An intrinsically safe device does not create sparks, among othe things. You may be able to find light switches with this feature, and some of them may be mercury switches. -Adam On 10/16/07, Martin McCormick wrote: > 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 > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Moving in southeast Michigan? Buy my house: http://ubasics.com/house/ Interested in electronics? Check out the projects at http://ubasics.com Building your own house? Check out http://ubasics.com/home/ -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist