I have an older house that has bulbs in the basement unfortunately they are of the pull string variety meaning a trip to the basement requires pulling 4 strings then pulling them again in reverse order to prevent being stuck at the far side of the room and having to stumble around in the dark.

I propose a lightbulb much like a night light or automated streetlight. BUT instead of turning on when it gets dark it looks for the presence of light in the spectrum produced by a light bulb and turns on when that one turns on. Hence if you walk into a basement you can turn on one light and they would all turn on. simple logic would look for a big burst, (light turning on instantly) instead of say the sun coming up. Great for additions or retrofitting where tying one additional lightbulb into a circuit would be extremely taxing.

alternatively you could use power analysis (see link) to achieve the same effect.
-- metarinka, Dec 13 2010

Power analysis http://en.wikipedia...wiki/Power_analysis
monitoring line voltage for specific characteristics [metarinka, Dec 13 2010]

Remote control lampholder http://www.homeeasy...05S/190/Product/61/
Just one example of many. [8th of 7, Dec 13 2010]

Studio photographers have slave flashes that detect the camera flash and fire along with it.
-- baconbrain, Dec 13 2010


RF-controlled aftermarket lamp sockets ?

<link>
-- 8th of 7, Dec 13 2010



random, halfbakery