Flickering CBUS Dimmed Lighting

I have purchased a house that has existing CBUS lighthing.

There is a problem in that in most rooms the down lights flicker on and off. There is clearly a problem with the system or power to the lights and its driving us crazy.

Is there a particular downlight / transformer that is best suited for this, as replacing the ones flickering doesnt seem to fix anything.

Can anyone recommend a solution or company that is capable of determining and rectifying the issue.

 

You're going to need to give some more information in able to make a better diagnosis.

When the lights are turned off, do they flicker on?
When the lights are at maximum brightness, do they flicker?
When the lights are dimmed to about half, do they flicker?
Can you describe the flickering a bit better? For example, is it an occasional flash, do they strobe? Is it a random flashing? etc.
How many downlights are on the same circuit?
How many circuits have this issue?
Are the circuits with this problem connected to a single C-Bus dimmer or multiple dimmers?
What kind of dimmers are being used, Leading Edge or Universal?
Are the transformers iron-core or electronic? If you can determine make/model, that may be helpful.
Have the downlight lamps been replaced with LEDs?
Are all the circuit breakers in your switchboard turned on?

 

Thats a lot of questions, I appreciate the effort and detail you require.

You're going to need to give some more information in able to make a better diagnosis.

When the lights are turned off, do they flicker on?
NO

When the lights are at maximum brightness, do they flicker?
SOME YES

When the lights are dimmed to about half, do they flicker?
I'LL TRY THIS

Can you describe the flickering a bit better? For example, is it an occasional flash, do they strobe? Is it a random flashing? etc.
SOME LIGHTS ARE FINE, SOME CONSTANT FLICKER, SOME RANDOM FLICKER

How many downlights are on the same circuit?
NO IDEA, CAN I TELL SOMEHOW?

How many circuits have this issue?
NO IDEA, CAN I TELL SOMEHOW?

Are the circuits with this problem connected to a single C-Bus dimmer or multiple dimmers?
NO IDEA, CAN I TELL SOMEHOW?

What kind of dimmers are being used, Leading Edge or Universal?
NO IDEA, CAN I TELL SOMEHOW?

Are the transformers iron-core or electronic? If you can determine make/model, that may be helpful.
I'LL PULL ONE OUT AND HAVE A LOOK, I REPLACED LOTS THINKING THEY WERE FAULTY.

Have the downlight lamps been replaced with LEDs?
NO, COULD DO THIS, WILL IT HELP AND HOW BRIGHT ARE THEY?

Are all the circuit breakers in your switchboard turned on?
UMM, NO IDEA, CAN i TELL SOMEHOW

Sorry im not more helpful, but I just purchased the house, know very little about the setup / wiring. If you tell me how / where to look, im happy to do so and report back.

 

The symptoms you describe could be attributed to several things..

Are you an electrician? Judging by your responses to Newman you are not.. I would strongly suggest you perhaps get an electrician who has some experience in CBUS..

You should be able to find someone here who can assist:

http://updates.clipsal.com/SLXIntegration/InstallerSearch.aspx?site=C

Cheers,
Nik

 

Agree. I suggest you get an electrician who's familiar with C-Bus to come and take a look.

 

No I'm not,

I thought this was a community forum.

I'll try that site, i'm happy to find someone and pay to get it fixed, but I haven't been able to find anyone as yet.

 

In addition to the link provided by Nik, there's also a list of installers in every state here:
http://www2.clipsal.com/cis/technic...ler__integrator/australia_installers#pageToc5

Keep working through those lists. If none of them are willing to come and take a look at your install then CIS Technical Support might be able to point you at someone in your area.

 

Called the two in my area.

Both not interested, one said you dont need an electriction you need someone to come out and reconfigure it.

Doesnt sound right to me

 

A plausible fault is that it could be a loose active or neutral at the CBUS unit which the lights are connected to. You can press the buttons on the front of the CBUS units, these will turn the lights on and off so you can find out which light is connected to which CBUS unit. (Just remember to turn them off otherwise as Ashleigh says, the lights won't work.) By doing this you should be able to know which CBUS unit(s) is potentially causing trouble (i.e. I'd suspect that the lights which are flickering are all connected to the same unit). You could then get any electrician to check the active and neutral connections for that particular unit, but also the connections upstream of this as well and for other units in general. (You don't need a "CBUS Installer" to do this).

When you used Clipsal Electrician Locator, I assume that you had "All" ticked for area of expertise. You may need to try "CBUS Approved installer" or "Home Automation" and tick suburbs that are a bit further away from you. (I just tried my Suburb and even though "Include Surrounding Suburbs" is ticked, it didn't pick up ones from 10 minutes away).

Continue answering Ashleigh's questions, they are one of the experts. My solution is cutting to the chase without knowing the full system and is largely based on the fact the transformers have been repalced and it hasn't fixed the situation.

Cheers, cc&c.

 

Maybe they should be removed from the list as they obviously dont know jack

Mick