Dimmer switch change?

[beard79]

Morning peeps,

Probably lacking some info. here but I have this dimmer switch (photo, Green one)) which the push switch has started to fail. It controls led downlights in the kitchen and was advised, by an electrician, to swap it over to a Click scolmore model which is 'universal' and has superior control over the dimmer limits? possibly model

MD9014​

Can anyone advise if this is correct and a quick swap over?

Ta muchly

 

[ericmark]

60 watt of LED lighting is a massive amount. And it says up to 400 watts, so what is it powering? A sun bed?

 

[beard79]

60 watt of LED lighting is a massive amount. And it says up to 400 watts, so what is it powering? A sun bed?

6 of these dude

 

[ericmark]

6 of these dude

So likely 6 watt each, so 6 x 6 = 36 and minium is 60, sure you can see the problem.

Personally, when dimmed I want a lower colour temperature as well, and at £5 each for smart bulbs, is it worth fitting a dimmer switch?

 

[SUNRAY]

So likely 6 watt each, so 6 x 6 = 36 and minium is 60, sure you can see the problem.

Personally, when dimmed I want a lower colour temperature as well, and at £5 each for smart bulbs, is it worth fitting a dimmer switch?

Hmmm OP has been happy with the status quo until a fault occurs.
£30 and all the messing about with remote control of whatever form


Versus:


£15 for

direct replacement product, then 5 minutes to fiddle with 1 nut and 2 wires.

This assumes the existing LED downlights are <15W each.

 

[Taylortwocities]

was advised, by an electrician, to swap it over to a Click scolmore model which is 'universal' and has superior control over the dimmer limits?

My preferred go to universal dimmer is the Varilight V-Pro. But his might work, never tried them..

 

[ericmark]

OP has been happy

Yes, I see your point. Maybe just me? I back in the 90s fitted dimmers, before CFL came out, so they no longer worked.

The main point was I never actually got up out of my seat to dim the lights with a last century dimmer, after the first month of use. To be fair, I have a desk light with a dimmable bulb in it, which will light my way in the middle of the night, I set at 10% and never bothered changing it even when voice activated, so maybe just me.

My wife has the perfect remote control, voice activated, hey love, turn on this light behind my head, so yes I can see how for some voice commands don't work. But walking into my kitchen I can say hey google turn on kitchen, but I can also say hey google turn on fridge, and it will just turn on the one bulb, I can also flick the light switch off and on again.

But the in my case four smart GU10 bulbs have never been used in the colour changing mode, or dimmed down except to test they will after first fitting them, however in the evening I have gone to walk next to kitchen, and realised how dark, and shouted hey google turn on kitchen. And it has heard me and responded through the double glazing.

I also have set, around midnight, to turn off lights one at a time, so if I forget to turn off lights, they auto switch off, and since one at a time will be unlikely to catch me out.

To my mind, a switch where hey love, turn on light will work, but hey google, turn on light will not, means I am forever getting out of my chair to turn lights on/off. Her last slaves (the three children) left home years ago, I don't really have that option. Well, suppose she can't stop me dieing, but she will have a darn good go at it.

Come on got to have a little bit of fun!

 

[beard79]

Never have looked properly, my ignorance, but from memory was lead to believe that the downlights to be sealed/complete units (50k hrs or something) so no bulbs to be able swap over. Wattage was low around the 5-6W so presume I am safe to try the Click dimmer.....

Cheers for all the feedback

 

[Taylortwocities]

Never have looked properly, my ignorance, but from memory was lead to believe that the downlights to be sealed/complete units (50k hrs or something) so no bulbs to be able swap over.

Up to you. Problems with integrated downlights is that WHEN they fail you have to take the whole thing out and fit a replacement. That is a hassle as the style of these things change and only a couple of years down the road you'll find that the ones you have are obsolete and the "replacements" don't look the same.
DO not misunderstand lifetime lies about 50,000 hours. That will be an estimated average/mean expected life time. That means that half of them will fail a long time before the quoted lifetime. In my experience that can be only a year or two, even under warranty you may be given something that doesnt match.

Better to fit downlights with GU10 lamps, then you can swop lamps if/when they fail without hassle.

 

[beard79]

Up to you. Problems with integrated downlights is that WHEN they fail you have to take the whole thing out and fit a replacement. That is a hassle as the style of these things change and only a couple of years down the road you'll find that the ones you have are obsolete and the "replacements" don't look the same.
DO not misunderstand lifetime lies about 50,000 hours. That will be an estimated average/mean expected life time. That means that half of them will fail a long time before the quoted lifetime. In my experience that can be only a year or two, even under warranty you may be given something that doesnt match.

Better to fit downlights with GU10 lamps, then you can swop lamps if/when they fail without hassle.

Accepted it's all a calculated guess really on the hrs. TBTH I told the electricians, that did the rewire & new install, what I wanted and they did just that - was over 7 years ago now so has actually performed better than I thought it would!

The switch has been dodgy for a while but has reached the point where sometimes having to stab at it for ages to get it to switch has become a little tedious. Did look to replace like for like but was told the better options out there now to stop the flicker etc that does occur sometimes.