Faulty Light????

[potter76]

Just after some advice a friend of mine has a light in her sons bedroom its a football themed light fitting with three lights coming from it she has this wired to a dimmer switch.

All was working fine then she had a problem that when she turned the light off all 3 lights were staying on hardly noticable but had the orange glow.

i went to have a look at it when i turned up everything was fine no problem i had a spare dimmer switch which i changed just incase it was faulty and everything was ok.

i just had a call this morning saying the light was doing the same again when the dimmer was off there was still a glow on all 3 lights

do you know what the problem could be???

thanks in advance

 

[Steve]

Are they normal incandescent bulbs?

If they are energy saving lamps they may exhibit the symptoms you describe.

Short of that, I'd be checking the wiring at the switch, light, and at any junction boxes above.

 

[potter76]

hi the bulbs are GU10 halogen bulbs on the fitting

its just really confusing as the problem is not permanent sometimes there is a glow and sometimes there isnt

 

[Steve]

Have they tried other switches on this circuit, see if the glow is related to another light switch . . .

 

[breezer]

50p says they are halogen lamps fed by a transformer.

( i see i was typing as the op was replying)

the dimmer is under rated, it needs to be at least twice the wattage of the lamps

 

[bernardgreen]

its just really confusing as the problem is not permanent sometimes there is a glow and sometimes there isnt

Did she do anything to the wiring in the ceiling rose when she fitted the lamp ?

If the answer is yes then ask her if the glow is affected by turning other lights on and off. If the glow is affected by other switches then the ceiling rose has been in-correctly wired.

 

[breezer]

its not the wiring its the dimmer

 

[potter76]

right think i might b e getting to the bottom of this now

she previously had a pendant there 60 watt bulb then replaced it with a spotlight with 3 x GU10 bulbs

what rating should the dimmer be???

thanks

 

[flameport]

Its a push on/off dimmer, and someone in the house is only turning it to minimum for 'off'.

 

[Steve]

Its a push on/off dimmer, and someone in the house is only turning it to minimum for 'off'.

Well thats the problem then. Honestly, some people!

 

[breezer]

what rating should the dimmer be???

twice the total wattage of all the lamps

eg. 3 x50 watt lamps = 150 watt

dimmer required 300w minimum not 250 which is quite common