Dimmer channel to On/off??

Hi all,

How i can make one channel of PRO series / Architectural dimmer to switch On/Off the lighting circuit? since the client want to change one of the lighting circuit into Fluorescent.

can i make this in the Tool kit, by changing On/off instead of Dimmer??? does it make any problems???

regards,
Rakesh.

 

You may have a problem with the fact that off for a dimmer channel is never 100% off. This is because of the EMC components that are fitted in the circuit. When dimmers are turned off there is actually a very small amount of power trickling through the loads.

This small amount of energy might be enough to make the fluorescent lamps try and start.

 

Is there any way to come out of this???

do we really need relays for switching On/Off??

 

The leakage current produces a lot of problems... we wired a fluorescent light to a 2x10A Pro dimmer last week, and it would not switch off. Same problem with 4 channel Universal dimmers.

Whilst there is very little current, there is almost full mains voltage at the output of the dimmer at all times. The electronic ballast in the fluorescent light sees this voltage and stores up enough power (internally) until it tries to start the lamp. There is not enough current available to keep the lamp running, so it waits then tries again and again...

The solution is to add a Clipsal 5101R single channel relay. These are very inexpensive... just note that you must hold the "push button" down while programming without mains connected, if not Toolkit will not find them. Also, they are an old model, so they don't have advanced features like Learn Mode. And they are not "voltage free"... as they were originally designed for use inside light fittings. But they work well, and are great to solve problems like you have experienced.

Note that the 5101R also contains a 0-10V current-sinking analogue output terminals for dimming ballasts. This is not documented anywhere now days

The 5102R 2 channel (without 0-10V) is also good value.

 

thanks for the replies...hope these help me...
regards, Rakesh...