Combining dimmer channels to increase power

I've been reading specs on some competitor products and they discuss combining channels to increase power capacity.
These products are leading edge dimmers as per most of the CBus dimmer range, and are network controlled products just like CBus.

Research so far suggests that leading edge dimming is done by firing a pulse to a Triac so current can flow for the remaining part of the AC sine wave.

Since all the dimmers "soft start" their connected load then any difference in synchronisation between the channels would only have a small effect on the load capacity as they would still ramp together at the same rate.

I can see that if one channel failed to operate then you would likely blow the other channel, but this is surely just a programming "risk".

I'm really interested to know anyone else's thoughts because this makes using 8ch 1a dimmers a very flexible option.

Cheers.

 

It is very unlikely that an 8-ch dimmer would survive long-term if operated in this way. Don't do it.