Patent ID: 7408134

Claim:
An electronic switch comprising: a housing; a sensor circuit mounted in the housing, said sensor circuit providing a variable signal based on an environmental condition to which the sensor circuit is exposed; and a microcontroller mounted in the housing and receiving the variable signal from the sensor circuit, the microcontroller having: a power input port for selectively receiving electrical power to power the microcontroller; a ground port for connection to ground; and at least one output port for indicating an on state or an off state to indicate the condition of the switch; the microcontroller being programmed to operate in at least two modes including: a switch mode in which the microcontroller provides an on/off output at the output port based on predetermined parameters of the signal from the sensor circuit; and a communications mode in which the predetermined parameters can be changed by an external communication signal supplied to the output port during a predetermined period following power being supplied to the input power port.