Dimmer switch went bang

[briwuk]

I went to turn on my spotlights with the chrome dimmer switch, which was installed by a professional electrician as I am useless at anything like that, and it went bang!!! and now I have no lighting in my lounge.

Does this sound as though I need a new dimmer switch or is it probably just a wiring fault? All the rest of the lights in the house work except for these.

Thanks in advance for any offers of help

regards

Bri

 

[BigJon]

what type of spotlights lights are you dimming, whats the rating of them, how many are there, whats the rating of your dimmer? sounds as though the dimmer is not rated highly enough

 

[Maxxy]

Probably just a new dimmer switch. How long ago did the electrician install it? I would advise not touching the switch again but to call him back to look at it, with the intention of replacing it if its faulty. (Maybe buy a new one from B&Q in advance or somewhere you can return it to for a refund if its not needed).

The cable could also be damaged though, which may mean rewiring that switch, but your electrician will be able to advise on that.

The other option, is to turn the power off tomorrow when its light enough to see, and then open up the switch and have a look. (You mentioned your not too hot on electrics, so the safest bet is turn all of the individual breakers off - or pull all the fuses out - but remember the order they came out in and also turn off the main switch. This gives you a double guarantee that its safe before you start probing.)

If the cables look damaged and black then they will need replacing - best to call your sparky. If the cables look fine (no visible damage at all) then you could replace the dimmer switch like for like. Make sure you remember the order the wires come out of the switch - do a drawing or take a picture on a digital camera/camera phone etc if its not a simple 2 wires and earth cable.

Then fix the new dimmer switch in place (make sure you dont catch any of the wires with the screws) and pop the fuses back in.



If you are at all unsure of what you are doing then dont attempt it - just call a sparky in. Its always better to be safe than sorry.

 

[briwuk]

As far as I can remember all the bulbs are 40w and there are 9 of them. Everything has worked perfectly fine for 18 months or so. Not sure about ratings etc, as I said I am a complete novice

Thanks for the reply

Bri

 

[briwuk]

Think the original dimmer was from B & Q so I guess they would have a similar model in.

Unfortunately the sparky has now moved away so no chance of getting him back. Will maybe have a look when it is daylight as you say and see what the wires look like.

A friend of mine replaced a different light fitting and we just removed the lights fuse from the fusebox. Would it be ok to do just the same to remove the dimmer and look at the wiring??

thanks

Bri

 

[securespark]

360W. Is it a 400W dimmer?

Next question: have your lamps got ballotini fuses in them?

If not (and MK have a special disclaimer in their dimmer packs), then a blown lamp may have toasted the dimmer...

 

[Maxxy]

A friend of mine replaced a different light fitting and we just removed the lights fuse from the fusebox. Would it be ok to do just the same to remove the dimmer and look at the wiring??

thanks

Bri

As long as you are 100% sure its the right fuse, and isolates that circuit. If you havent got test gear to prove its dead, then its not really worth taking the risk, is it?

 

[briwuk]

A blown lamp. Now that you mention that, one of them was blown and I was just waiting to go to B & Q to get a replacement, sound like from what you said that may be it. Sounds like a job for the professionals in that case!! Time to get the Yellow Pages out for electricians in the Leyland area. Will make me get them in to do my bathroom as well and make me remove the remaining tiles that are still on the wall!!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions

Bri