RE: Dimmer switches

["Nigel Giddings" <nigel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tim,

I managed to pick up a couple of 12 Way 10A per channel units made by
Helvar (ex millennium dome...) These are wall mounted and a bit OTT for
what you want... http://tinyurl.com/5rqhfs because of
the price I paid
even with the c-bus 0-10v interface they still worked out very cheap and
with a potential 2.3KW available to each channel I was unlikely to run
into dimming load problems.

http://mobile.ukslc.org/reviews/87-lighting/42-soundlab-4-channel-dmx-di
mmer.html  is an example of a 4 channel dimmer. This is more often used
with DMX but the simplicity (OK now I am a heretic) of a 1K pot using
the 0-10v connection seems to fit what you want?  As has already been
mentioned you could also use the DMX feature in the future. Not sure
what would override what though....

More details

http://www.soundlab.co.uk/homepage.aspx?sectioncode=003300100035

HTH

Nigel


-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Tim Hawes
Sent: 21 August 2008 13:07
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Dimmer switches

Nigel,

Well yes, I was waiting for the shouts of "heretic" when I posted
that
;-)

I had considered upgrading to a managed system like Cbus but this
project has had enough "mission creep" as it is... What started
out as
getting the ceilings skimmed has now snowballed a bit. It's not
necessarily a bad thing but I should plan a bit more if I want to rip
the rest of the house apart.

My search terms for Google only seemed to reveal remote controlled
(i.e. from an IR remote) dimmers - do you have a link to the dimmers
you've used?
I've got good access to the ceiling lights from the floor above so a
bit of re-jigging could be possible :-)

Did you make up your own wall plates & pots, or are
"standard" dimmers
using 1K pots?

Also while googling, I did find these slightly higher-rated "iQ"
dimmer switches at TLC:
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/KND22C.html
<http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/KND22C.html>
these are 300W vs. the more standard 250W and do both mains and LV.

Thanks,

Tim.

On 8/21/08, Nigel Giddings <nigel@xxxxxxx
<mailto:nigel%40corbenic.co.uk>
> wrote:
> Tim,
>
>
>
> Why do something simply when it could be more complicated?
>
>
>
> Have you considered using a remote dimmer with a 1K Potentiometer in
you
> wall plate that could adjust the 0-10v control line on the remote
> dimmer.
>
>
>
> You would need to run two low voltage/low current wires from the Pot
to
> the dimmer and you could have as big a dimmer as you like. I had my
> dimmers doing this temporarily until I installed the C-Bus 0-10v
> interfaces...
>
>
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0-10_V_lighting_control
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0-10_V_lighting_control>
>
>
>
> HTH
>
> Nigel
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx
<mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
] On
Behalf
> Of Tim Hawes
> Sent: 21 August 2008 08:44
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [ukha_d] Dimmer switches
>
>
>
> What's the highest rated 2gang rotary dimmer that fits into a UK
single
> box?
> Most that I've found seem to be either 400W for 1 dimmer, or 250W each
> for a pair on the same plate. I have two ceiling lights, each with 5
> bulbs but the brightness is limited since I can't exceed the rating of
> the dimmer. I could split them onto separate switches but it's
> convenient to control them together and I like the rotary action,
> which I think rules out X10?
>
> The second output from the switch is for the wall lights, and the
> bulbs are regular filament ones - no low energy malarkey...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tim.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


------------------------------------