Re: UK Wall dimmer reliability

["Dr John Tankard" <jtankard@xxxxxxx>]

Just one question, when you were using it and it was giving problems what
sort of load was it, ie was it low voltage lighting ? and if so was it a
true transformer or was it a switched mode job ?

John
jtankard@xxxxxxx

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Raymond [mailto:Reb.barnett@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 19 July 1999 15:29
> To: 'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'
> Subject: [ukha_d] Re: UK Wall dimmer reliability
>
>
> What measurements do you want? Mine is very accessible because wiring
it
> up and playing with it was more fun than boxing it up and hiding the
> exposed live contacts :-(
>
> Mine worked fine for quite some time before becoming dodgy. It would
> sometimes go for a week or more without a hitch, then play havoc -
> presumably because I only occasionaly hit the critical dim level that
> really stressed it. The module seems fine enough now and is in active
> service operating a 60W table lamp, although I only ever run it at off
> or 100%...
>
> Wasn't there some talk a while ago about universal modules being
> unreliable with high loads - something to do with arcing across the
> contacts causing them to fuse together?
>
> Ray.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: timmorris@xxxxxxx [mailto:timmorris@xxxxxxx]
> > Sent: 19 July 1999 15:12
> > To: REB.Barnett@xxxxxxx
> > Subject: [ukha_d] Re: UK Wall dimmer reliability
> >
> >
> > The interesting thing is, that for the first week of
> > operation all of them
> > worked fine. I have one controlling 200W that has failed, but
another
> > which is controlling 300W which is (at the moment) working
> > fine. I wonder
> > whether the heat is affecting the soldering on the board.
Although I'm
> > happy working on the low-voltage side of things, I dont trust
> > myself to
> > work on the mains side, so I haven't opened them up. The
> > suggestion of a
> > Din rail dimmer seems to be the solution, does anyone have one
that is
> > accessible so the can provide accurate measurements?
> >
> > I also have a particularly un reliable universal module - seems
like
> > manufacturing tolerance is not what it could be.
> >
> > Tim.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Keith Doxey [mailto:keith.doxey@xxxxxxx]
> > Sent: 19 July 1999 12:20
> > To: 'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'
> > Subject: [ukha_d] Re: UK Wall dimmer reliability
> >
> >
> > Hi Tim,
> >
> > I would imagine that the poor little X10 chip inside the
> > switch is getting
> > cooked so much by the heat coming from the triac that it just
stops
> > responding. Once cooled it will work OK until the next time.
> >
> > I personally dont like running ANYTHING at 100% load. Its
> > much better to
> > have a good safety margin.
> > If I want 500W of lighting I use a 1kW dimmer.
> > If I want 50 watts of audio playing I use a 200W amp with
> > speakers rated
> > at
> > 3-400W
> >
>


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