[no subject]

You won't be able to do *anything* that passes code without a schematic of
the original installation and lots of time spent with a meter, a wire
tracing set and a pen and paper. Even then, inspectors don't usually trust
what they can't see or trace.  If they even suspect you fished a single wire
through existing staples, you'd be all washed up.  They would assume ALL the
cables in the wall had insulation scraped off them.  That's how they think.

They are not likely to let you hook 110VAC devices to wires buried in walls
they can't see, especially when there's a chance you may have inadvertently
connected low power switches to 110VAX loads. That's why electrical
inspections have to be done before the drywall goes up.  Most inpsectors
have the power to make you rip out every square inch of wallboard if you
screw up, too, before they'll approve your job.

The reality is that inspectors can throw you right out of your own house and
revoke your C of O if they decide there's a risk to any of the occupants.
If you're doing all the mods yourself, and you're not a licensed
electrician, it's doubtful they'll give you the benefit of the doubt on any
issue that arises.  If you're not inclined to get the place inspected while
doing the work, well, that's only putting off the trauma to some unknown
future date in all likelihood.

The place I'd make the change is at the big rotary switch(es) and at the
fixtures and outlets themselves.  I'd take all the wires coming out of the
wall to the rotary switch and feed them into a multi-conductor connector.
I'd put the mate on pigtails going to the rotary switch so that I could
reconnect the old device easily in a few seconds.  I would use that same
style of connector to interface the control wires with an Ocelot control
system.  "Plug compatible" as the old mainframers used to say.

Although the wall switches are low voltage, too, you've still got options
like in-line modules and socket rockets.  The Ocelot and a relay control
module like the SECU16 interfaced to your main rotary controller(s) will
give you tremendous automation capability in terms of turning loads on and
off remotely according to rules.

The Ocelot controller is smart enough to interpret a rapid flick of the
old-style lightswitch as a request to enter dimming mode and to consider the
next two toggles within a period you define as requests to begin dimming and
end dimming.  Whether that would work depends on whether the local switch
signal can be sensed at the remote multiswitches or not.

You might not even have to use an Ocelot if you can make a connector that
serves to keep all relays open and in the on state.  Then, use the PLC
inline modules, socket rockets and wall outlets to control the house like
any other house with PLC equipment.

It sounds like your system is "once on, always on until turned off."  If so,
perhaps removing the LV switches, shunting the wires to "always on" and
covering the switch plate with a "StickaSwitch" would be the way to go.  You
should be able to revert easily if you want to.  Yes, there's a tiny lag for
RF switching, but I understand they've deliberately put a time lag in UPB
hardwired switches (to wait for a double tap) so if you don't like the lag,
be careful what you chose instead.

If it isn't, you can get in-line modules, socket rockets and wall outlets
into the current system, they usually are already UL approved and not too
much of an issue for an inspector.  Controlling them from an X-10 wireless
switch would give you dimming and light control.

While I agree that X-10's remiss in not have a single button, `1 unit RF
light switch (except the ugly panic button) my wife, who hated
StickaSwitches to begin with, has found them less objectionable recently.
That's because I re-arranged the lamp unit codes so that with three or four
buttons, she can turn on lights in her path before she turns off the lights
behind her from one location.  And there was no cutting of plaster,
spreading of plaster dust or rewiring house circuitry.  That's probably the
most important feature.

Bear in mind, this is all abstract information.  The data I could find about
GELV is apparently about units installed in the early 90's.  It sounds like
your unit is much older.  I'd really want to run some multimeter and tone
tracer tests before I decided on how to proceed for real.  There are lots of
ways they could have designed their relays so that advice concerning one
type might not be appropriate for other configurations.

--
Bobby G.