Rako wireless lighting with low voltage LED downlights

[Bankrupt]

Hi all, I'm hoping that someone might be able to advise me :

A few years ago I posted about a Rako wireless lighting system that was installed in an apartment my daughter bought.

I got it working and it's worked OK for quite a few years, but now one bank of lights won't work at all and others seem a bit erratic. I have a Rako RCM-070 wireless switch, and I believe RMT500 receiver modules inline in the ceiling void on the wiring to each of the different banks of lighting. I'm wondering if the issue could be that the system was set up with low voltage halogen downlights, and now most of these have been replaced by low voltage LED downlights ? Not sure if it's an incompatibility between the RMT500 receiver modules and LED bulbs, or whether I just have a failed RMT500 unit....

Does anyone use RMT500 receiver modules with low voltage LED downlights ? Any recommendations for compatible LED drivers for the downlights ? Or do I need to rip out the transformers that were fitted for the low voltage Halogen downlights and replace the downlights with mains LED downlights ? I really don't know why they installed low voltage downlights as it's a living room location - I can understand why low voltage would be used in a bathroom.

Thank you for any advice you might be able to offer. I have studied the various Rako manuals that are available online and looked at lots of Rako videos on YouTube, but none of them seem to cover my actual issue. I just want my lights to work !

 

[ericmark]

Low voltage 50 - 1000 volts AC, extra low voltage below 50 volts AC. Do you mean extra low voltage? I will guess extra low voltage?

So switches using a battery or a neutral, in the main, it does not matter if the current used drops, but switches which get their power from the power being used by the lamps, will normally have a minium load, typically 5 watts.

Power supplies often use the switch mode method to drop the voltage, these often need a minium load of 20 or more watts.

The advert says it will work down to 1 watt, a lot better than most.

the mimium for this electronic transformer is 35 watts, Some modern ones will work from zero watts, this one for example is designed for LED lamps.

Personally I would fit low voltage (230 VAC) smart bulbs and do away with any transformers or dimmer units.

 

[Bankrupt]

Thank you Ericmark, Yes - I mean extra low voltage 12v. Unfortunately I can't change to low voltage smart bulbs as all the light fittings (and there are lots) are for GU10 or GU4 downlights. I'll have a look when I get home and see how easy it is to draw the Rako RMT500 out of the ceiling void to check it out. If ( as I suspect ) it's OK and the problems I'm having are due to incompatibility issues between the RMT500 Receiver/Dimmer and the various transformers and LED downlights, I will be very tempted to get them all replaced by low voltage (230 VAC) GU10 dimmable downlights.
Having studied the Rako videos online, I now also can't rule out that someone hasn't accidentally messed up the Rako RCH-070 programming... I need to check that out. I want the switch to operate in simple "Channel Mode ". You press Off, then 2 then Up and hold them all to go into channel mode, and 1, then Off, then Down and hold them all to go into "Scene Mode". As all I want to do is be able to turn all my lights on and off ! - I wish that they had just put in normal wired switches and saved me all this trouble. Someone obviously thought that wireless switching of the many banks of light from one wireless switch would be " cool " and created a headache for me.

 

[ericmark]

I had the same consideration, as an industrial electrician I had a spare PLC, and the software and leads to program it. And I was tempered. But thought, when I die, how will my wife get it fixed if it goes wrong. So used standard smart equipment only.

I once was working in a factory, and given the job of finding out where the cables went, as many no longer required.

I traced one going into the back garden of a house boarding the works, so told my boss. It seems the house did belong to the late engineering manager, when his widow was asked about electric bills, she said how her late husband had sorted that all out before his death. He may well have had permission to use the firm's electric, no one knew, so she was told she would need to get a new electric supply within the next two months, and the supply was removed.

I have often thought about it, and thought she was lucky the firm took the altitude they did. And thought I don't want to leave any nasty surprises for my widow.

 

[Bankrupt]

You make a good point. We don't like to think about our own mortality because it can be a little bit depressing, but we really should try to avoid leaving either technological or financial headaches behind when we finally depart. My financial affairs are very complicated with several final salary pension schemes and several other defined contribution pensions, company death in service benefits, various ISAs etc. I've already prepared a " Widows envelope " with details of all my financial affairs, when I have time at home over Christmas I'm going to check and update all this and create a digital version that I can put on a widows memory stick ! I also work in industry. Most of my work is mechanical, but I do also dabble in electrical and control & instrumentation work - Therefore my determination to sort out this Rako stuff as it really should be well within my capabilities. I just bought a spare RMT500 receiver on Ebay in case one has failed. I am determined to fix this problem next weekend.

Your story about the electricity supply to the Engineering Manager's house reminds me of a similar story I heard from one of the Scottish distilleries - The pipefitters had ran a hidden small bore pipe from the main whiskey line to the bottling plant to a tap in their mess cabin !

 

[Bankrupt]

I'm going to troubleshoot the one bank of lighting that doesn't work at all this weekend. I will have a spare Rako RMT500 receiver/dimmer just in case that is the problem. To me the RMT500 should just act as an in-line on/off switch in channel mode, but I know that with extra low voltage LED downlighters and the associated transformers/led drivers I have had weird stuff going on in the past that I don't understand. I might try to eliminate any possibility of that by throwing out all the transformers/led drivers and changing to 230V GU10 LED downlighters. If they all work OK with the Rako RMT500 it might restore my faith in Rako and I will only use Rako with 230V bulbs in future and just dismiss past problems as not understood incompatibility problems when there are extra low voltage LED bulbs and transformers/drivers on RMT500 switched circuits. Just hope whoever did the wiring has left enough slack for all the receivers to be drawn out of the ceiling void through the light cut-outs for the trouble shooting....
Also need to investigate another bank of lighting that instead of being switched by Channel 4 is now being switched by the up/down dimmer switches. I do not understand that at all.