replacing a dimmer with a normal switch

Is it possible to just replace a dimmer with a normal switch? My dimmer switch is v temperamental and won't always go on so I took the casing off and had a look for any obvious loose connections but all looked OK. Am not desperate to keep the dimmer and I have a spare regular switch which will fit in the gang of lightswitches. Can I just use that? There seemed to be quite a lot of cables and circuitry attached to the dimmer. Am I being dim?

yes you can, so long as you

a) have the same "way" switch as you wish to change

b) take care

c) make a drawing and label the cables FIRST (we have recently had posters who didnt make a good drawing and came here for help, it took several posts but we got there in the end, but a GOOD DRAWING helps)

Thanks, Breezer - what do you mean by the same'way' switch?

basically the number of terminals it has 2 or 3 (if 3 marked like c L1 & L2)

It looks like there are 4 wires coming out of the dimmer switch - red and black. There's only one switch for the lights in question, so I don't get why there would be 4 wires. Can I just twist the reds together etc and put a 2 terminal one way switch on?

you say "it looks like" from here the moon "looks like" its made of cheese.

as you can see "looks like" is not very usefull, i would need to KNOW (and what terminals is each connected to?)

breezer said:

from here the moon "looks like" its made of cheese.

Click to expand...

eh I thought the moon was made of cheese.

Hmmm, moon, cheese.... The lighting in question is tube lighting - fluorescent. Does that make a difference as to the converting to a normal switch question? I haven't taken the face plate off again to see what's connected to each terminal because it's dark, so with the power switched off I won't be able to see, but will do so in the morning.

that's better. incidentaly it can't be flouescent lights, because you can not dim flourescent lights with an ordainiary dimmer

Maybe it's not a normal dimmer.

Maybe that's why it has 4 wires.

Maybe they connect to some fancy control gear in the luminaire.


I have no idea if any of this is reasonable, except I do know that you can dim fluorescent lights with the appropriate equipment, so the fact that Jones claims to have an unusual dimmer which controls fluorescent lights might merit further investigation.

It might also mean that replacing it with a switch is not straightforward.

Jones - has this dimmer ever worked OK?

Hi Mr Ban-All-Sheds again. my rather stupid name is jo-needs-help-with-wiring, jo being my sister (I am Katie). Thank you for your help with the other problem, the radial circuit thing. My sis got it checked out and we successfully extended the radial circuits yesterday.

In answer to your question, the dimmer did used to work, and it still works, but you have to fiddle around with it for ages to get the stupid thing to switch on. When it does actually go on it crackles first (there has always been a small time delay in switching it on and the light actually coming on) I took the face plate off, assuming that it was just a loose connection but there was obvious no loose connection and I didn't want to mess around with the circuit board. I assumed it was a normal dimmer switch. There are 4 wires, 2 red 2 black. 2 go into the switch and 2 go into the circuit board side. It looks a bit flimsy as dimmer switches go and I suspect little is needed other than some solder on the circuit board but as I'm not an expert at this kind of stuff and I don't care about being able to dim the lights I thought I would dispense with the dimmer and put in a normal switch. MK apparently don't make the dimmer I've got any more.

Any thoughts?

Sorry, Katie - I didn't take anywhere near enough care reading your name But if I had I'd have thought you were Jo. I'm only a man, it isn't fair to confuse me like this.....

My thoughts are still the same - if it is a dimmer for fluorescent lights then the control gear in the luminaire might not work with an ordinary switch, or you might need to indentify which wires are which, and connect some together and some to a switch - you need to find out what's at the lighting end, and contact the manufacturers technical support dept - even though they no longer make it, I'm sure a company like MK will have documentation for old products.

You initially said there were 4 wires, then you said "2 go into the switch and 2 go into the circuit board side". How is the switch separate from the dimmer? Have you traced the 4 wires to see how they connect to the light? If what you've got is a live feed and switched live on the "switch" part of the control, and then a "dimmer" part connected via the other two wires to the control gear which starts the lamp and does the dimming stuff in response to how the control in the switch is set then who knows how you would replace that with an on/off switch. You might find that you can connect the "switch" wires to a normal switch and just join the other two together to simulate "no dimmer", or you might find that doing that blows a fuse or blows up the lamp. Only the manufacturer of the dimming apparatus can tell you, or an electrician who has encountered this product before.

If you can't get a definite answer from MK, I think the only guaranteed safe solution is to replace the light with a normal fluorescent (or any other sort of light your sister fancies).

My fault entirely. I set up this login for my sister when I was at her house and the first few names I tried weren't available so I went for something longer! I used have used hyphens to make it clearer

She's a bit of a computerphobe so I thought I would do all of the correspondance instead. The light is a problem in my house. I really can't handle the thought of replacing the light as there are 4 long fluorecent tubes and they are virtually impossible to get to - they are basically behind the work units in the kitchen with some frosted glass in front of them - hence why I never need to dim them. I really need to get an electrician in as there are quite a few lighting circuits in our house which need looking at. Just can't afford it at the moment. Most of the lights are impossible to get to - even with a tall ladder. We live in part of a converted church and the ceilings are very very high in places and the architect handily put some of the lights above stair wells where it is impossible to reach them and replace light bulbs etc.




Back to the point the dimmer switch is in a bank of 8 switches for various other lights - the dimmer is the width of 2 switches behind the face plate - the wires all go into the dimmer switch. 2 go into the bit you can see from outside the face plate, 2 go in to where the hidden circuit board side is.


I don't think the light fittings are made by MK and I can't see who they're made by. Feel like hitting my head against a wall...

as i said, unfortunately saying it has a wire that goes here and one (or two) that go there is not a lot of use if we are to help we really do need to know which wires (colours) go to what terminals and what those terminals are marked as.

now you say it is in a bank of 8, dont suppose you have / borrow a digital camera?

how long (roughly) are the actual lights?

this is going to sound silly but when the dimmer works, what colour do the lights dim to? would it be fair to say a orange / yellow colour?

i am thinking they are Not flourescent lights but long incandescent lamps

like

The lights dim to the same colour white as when on full, very white. I have got a (not very good) digital camera so will have a bash at photgraphing the switch tomorrow! Brilliant idea

Thanks chaps, you are great.