new installation

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by sparky_pud, Jul 16, 2007.

  1. sparky_pud

    sparky_pud

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    gday everyone, was just after some advice. i am about to build a new house and will be installing cbus in it and was wondering the best way to set up my switchboard ie. what size cb's or rcd's? and cabling runs

    i will be using 3 x L5508D1A Dimmers
    2 x L5512RVF

    i will be running 1.5mm 2c+e from each channel out to my lights which at the max will feed 4 electronic transformers(atco possum 60va) for 4 downlights per channel (50w max per D/L). max run of 35m, mainly only about 20m per channel. Is this OK?

    i was looking to putting my sweep fans on a dimmer channel per fan. is this ok?

    i will be doing all the work myself as i am a qualified electrician but unfortunately (in this case) in the industrial sector so i dont know alot about the domestic side of things. i will also be programming the cbus myself as i have been using it at work for about the last 10 years

    any feedback would be greatly appreciated
     
    sparky_pud, Jul 16, 2007
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  2. sparky_pud

    NickD Moderator

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    I'm not a sparky, but I renovated my place to put C-Bus in about a year ago, and I went through all this with the sparky then..

    My place has 3 x 4FCC60 (4 x 15M DIN) sub boards for C-Bus. Each board has a 40A RCD, and each C-Bus output module has its own 10A MCB, and all the wiring from there to the loads is done with 1.5sqmm 2c+e.

    Here's a few things you might want to consider.

    1) If you want 4 lamps per channel, rather than 4 x 50W lamps each with its own 60VA transformer, you could consider 2 x 70VA transformers (I used Atco Speedys), each with 2 x 35W Osram IRC lamps (ie 2 lamps on each transformer). You'll get the same light output with 30% less power, and one less transformer per channel, and there's less capacitive loading on the dimmer.

    2) Depending on the size of the house, you may want to break your switchboard up and distribute the dimmers closer to the loads. In my case we went for 3 boards because I had a total of 11 DIN units to fit in, but it resulted in less cabling at the cost of the extra boards. Another upside is that if an RCD trips you don't lose *all* the lights, as I found when a gutter overflowed recently.

    3) Bear in mind that the relays make quite an audible click when they switch, so keep your switchboard away from areas where this may bother you (like bedrooms or the TV room for example).

    4) You can run ceiling sweep fans off a dimmer channel, however you may find that the fan becomes noisy - this can be hit and miss depending on the fan itself. The dimmer won't mind, but *you* might. I actually wish I'd put the toilet exhaust fan on a dimmer because the damn thing sucks so much it's hard to close the door!

    HTH,

    Nick
     
    NickD, Jul 16, 2007
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  3. sparky_pud

    znelbok

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    Clipsal have released a new range of boards that are up to 5 x 15 modules. There is a flush mount version as well. I have not seen them yet, but I used four 4C48FD enclosures

    Try and distribute the output units as well - it will reduce the cable lengths dramatically, especially with the method you will be using. I just did the same and I used close to 500m of cable in my house just for the lights. That was with a cabinet at either end as well (7 output units).

    If you are looking at putting more than 4 lights on a group then you may want to consider a 2A dimmer instead of using two 1 A channels.

    Other than that NickD pretty much covered it for you.

    Mick
     
    znelbok, Jul 16, 2007
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  4. sparky_pud

    sparky_pud

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    thanks guys that helps alot. i will be using 2 X 4FC60MFD(to allow for future) switchboards which will both be located in a Control Hub in the centre of the house as i dont have another good location to put a sub board. Nick have you had any trouble atco speedy's ie. noise when on a dimmer? i heard this can be a issue sometimes.
     
    sparky_pud, Jul 17, 2007
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  5. sparky_pud

    NickD Moderator

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    Nope - all my dimmers are L5504D2U Universal dimmers, which run trailing edge for electronic transformer loads. No noise problems at all.

    Nick
     
    NickD, Jul 17, 2007
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  6. sparky_pud

    sparky_pud

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    thanks nick, have decided to go with the universal 2a dimmers as well now.
    thanks for the help.
     
    sparky_pud, Jul 20, 2007
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