Cbus dimmers only dimming lights to 50%

I have CBus installed in my new house by a certified Cbus point one integrator. Durring commisioning stage I raised the concern with them that my lights are only dimming from 100% to approx 50%. They stated that the CBus software was programmed correctly and was set to dim from 100% to 0% for all dimmer channels. They stated that this is due to quality of the 240VAC-12VDC transfomer used on down lights is not upto specification. I questioned this and stated that even my normal 240VAC light are not dimming past 50%. Their resposne was that it is due to the light fitting your are using. I feel that I have shafted by my installer and they want no part in rectifying issue and are blaming the electrician on the job.

Has anyone had a common problem and was it related to CBus programming?

 

Dimmers not dimming

It is possible that the issue could be caused by incorrect wiring of the dimmer units. It is possible they have wired two phases across the dimmer - if
din units have been used.
I would suggest you demand the Integrator returns and investigates further.

As Ashleigh suggests, Clipsal pointOne members should be providing a level of customer service.
Ensure the Integrator is, in fact a pointOne member. The term integrator is a commonly used term and does not imply they are specifically specialists in C-Bus

 

It definitely looks like they have got two phases on the dimmer.

Have you got three phase wired into the house?

One rule to keep with contractors is don't pay them until they are finished. Too many times do they ask for payment before a job is completely finished and then buggar off.

The last contractor I used, I paid all but 10% and practical completion to ensure that they would be around to finish off the job. This allows them to cover their costs and not create financial hardship.

A good contractor, while they may finish off the job, should have no issues with this arrangement, its only the dodgy ones that will complain.

Mick

 

Yes, I have contacted my installer on many times, and have even spoken to the director, they are a pointone installer, main reason I used them. They state that all the CBus side is fine and programming is fine, and state that it is the electricians wirring or components they have used.

I asked them to come out and confirm that the issue is not the CBus, they don't want to have any part of this and consider the job completed.

Yes, I do have three phse into my house.

 

The pointone integrator did not engage the sparky, the sparky was engaged by my builder, hence the finger pointing.

The sparky doesn't want to come back on site as they haven't been paid by the builder for the job, but I have paid the builder and pointone integrator completed as per contract, and builder has gone bust.

Seeme that I need to engage a sparky who is familar with Cbus to look at the wiring and components.

Do you know any good ones in Brisbane?

 

You probably should have told the whole story. You omitted a very important piece of information. You will probably need to find a sparky who knows C-Bus, or offer to pay the sparky who did the work an hourly to assist.

Can we assume you have LV downlights with electronic transformers? Are all lights failing to dim past 50%?

Good luck

 

Yes all lights are failing to dim past 50%, including the LV with transformers and normal 240V with no transformers.

 

But to make sure the owner was happy, it would not take the PO installer much time to confirm that the dimmer was in fact wired correctly and then pass this information onto the owner and/or electrician.

It does not matter that the installer is at fault or not, its a ****ty attitude and [based on the info given here] he does not deserve the time of day [nor does the electrician, but we expect less from them ].

Its what makes the difference between a first class installer and the rest.

Mick

 

Agreed, I did first raise this with the pointone installer and asked why they didn't pick this up when they commisioned my CBUs system.

Their were many bugs in my CBus installation that should have been picked up as part of the commissioning of the system, I asked for proof that they fully commisioned my system, they said they don't keep paper work for commisioning. The pointone installer stated that they give the client 1 month to play with the system and recommend changes they want, and they will come out and make the changes as part of the original contract price. It took them 8 month to fix their bugs, let alone making some simple changes, which started the finger pointing. One perfect example I have, is that the electricain oveloaded the circuit above the 2amp (9amp) rating for the CBus dimmer, which ended up melting the Cbus dimmer circuitry, Clipsal did not cover this under warrantry, the pointone installer blamed the electrician for overloading the circuit, the electrician blamed the pointone installer stating they should have monitored the loads into Cbus components. In the end I had to pay for new 8 channel 2 amp dimmer just to keep the job going.

They flag themselves as reputabel pointone installer, but I feel their expereince in programming the units was not upto scratch. And if you call it programming, its just configuration, no hardcore programming was written.
Sorry not here to spit the dummy on pointone installers, but with a bit Cbus hardware no how and network topology, the configuration via the toolkit isn't rocket science.

 

C-Bus Dimming to 50%

BillieGee
Hi , I am the local C-bus Rep for the Brisbane area , could you please give me a call at your earliest convenient time on 0417 898 949 as i am more than happy to intervene and help solve this problem before it escalates to much further.

 

Spoken like a true Engineer ;-)..... We dont expect anymore from Engineers ;-)

Frank