A method and apparatus are provided for operating a control switch. In one embodiment, the control switch includes an input terminal coupled to an alternating current (AC) power supply, a load terminal coupled to a load, a triac circuit coupled to the input terminal and the load terminal, a microcontroller and a power supply. The triac circuit may be configured to receive a triggering voltage and provide an activation pulse to the load based on one or more triggering voltage signals supplied by the microcontroller. In another embodiment, the power supply may be configured to step down AC power received from the input terminal and supply line voltage to the microcontroller.