Heat dissipation

There are figures for power dissipation per channel at 50% and 100% output in the Installation instructions.

Is this not sufficient?

Nick

 

The installation instructions and spec sheet are the authoritative data.

You will see that the dissipation per channel is highest at 50% brightness.

In general, the dissipation is highest at approximately 50% brightness (for all dimmers, not just Clipsal.) This means that for a brightness less than 50% the dissipation will decrease. Exactly how much is hard to say. For a small brightness, the dissipation will be somewhere between the quoted "off state" dissipation, and the 100% on-state dissipation.

If you assume that the per-channel dissipation is highest for the 50% brightness case then you will have the worst-case heat-load condition covered, and for other brightness settings the dissipation in general should be less.

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Note for the picky or pedantic: the worst case power dissipation of dimmers occurs in general at a 50% conduction angle. However, the exact conduction angle of maximum dissipation will depend on the exact dimmer design. Some dimmers have highest dissipation at 45%, some at 50%, some at 55%, some at 60%. It depends on the design. Usually the manufacturer will quote a maximum dissipation per channel (and the conditions under which that occurs) as well as dissipation under some other conditions.