Mains slave

The principle of the circuit is that on the basis of the current drawn by a mains-operated master equipment another appliance, the slave, is switched on. Same units that provide this function make use of one or more diodes connected in series with the master power line. This inevitably means a loss of voltage to the master and (albeit slight) interference on the mains. The present circuit uses a current transforrner, which causes a loss of voltage to the master of only a few millivolts.