Two way dimmers

[Scoby_Beasley]

Right, I've changed downstairs (ex)light for three gu10 halogen 50w, using originally 250w dimmer but now on to 400w dimmers, prob is if a bulb blows (Quee n Boo lights) the dimmer goes to full light only.
Any ideas on whats wrong ? remembering I get a tingle off downstairs lighting, but we got 5 gu10's running off the other side with no probs. Is it variolight?

 

[breezer]

so you are saying you have had a lamp blow and your dimmer wont dim?

the reason is the dimmer can not handle the surge of curent going through it when the lamp blows try different brand of dimmer

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Thats what I was thinkin' breezer, cheers matey.

 

[breezer]

Scoby_Beasly regarding your "dodgy dimmer" you could always have

one of these

its a coil of nichrome wire (or similar) wound on a tube with a slider, depending where the slider is depends how bright the lamp is, they never go wrong, get very hot but never go wrong

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

What confuses me is the fact that it's a three gang dimmer (3 circuits) and this is the only one that burns out if a bulb blows and its not the one with the biggest load

 

[breezer]

as i said, when the lamp goes it shorts out drawing a HUGE amount of current for less than a milisecond, this the electronics can not "handle" so they "die"

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

So thank the lord I have a spare single dimmer which we can "exchange" on a regular basis !! Can you reccomend a manufacturer of dimmers as I dont want to be doing this every month (s.w.m.b.o. has more than enough lined up for me to do !!)

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

AND BREEZER, U R A TOP GEEZER !!

 

[breezer]

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Scoby_Beasly regarding your "dodgy dimmer" you could always have

one of these

its a coil of nichrome wire (or similar) wound on a tube with a slider, depending where the slider is depends how bright the lamp is, they never go wrong, get very hot but never go wrong

And they are IP00 rated!

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Reminds me of physics lessons back in '93 (or was it '73 ?? Aaaah the memory fades......)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I wonder if the memory of the physics teacher I had has faded. He foolishly left a piece of apparatus on his bench at the front of the room when he was called out for an urgent phone call.

When he returned 10 minutes later there was no outward sign that the apparatus had been running whilst he was away.

"Right", he said, as he reached out with both hands to grasp the gleaming metal sphere, "the Van de Graaf generator....."

 

[AdamW]

Scoby_Beasly regarding your "dodgy dimmer" you could always have

one of these

its a coil of nichrome wire (or similar) wound on a tube with a slider, depending where the slider is depends how bright the lamp is, they never go wrong, get very hot but never go wrong

I believe that is what is known in GCSE Physics as a "rheostat". By the time you do A-level it is "Variable resistor", then doing a Physics degree it becomes "the slidey thingy".

And they say alcohol dulls the mind!

If we are going back to first principles why not just build yourself some form of Wheatstone bridge apparatus and use that to dim your lights?

 

[dingbat]

[
Reminds me of physics lessons back in '93 (or was it '73 ?? Aaaah the memory fades......)

Had to be '73 didn't it, really? By the nineties Physics had just become part of a lumped-together mess of 'Combined Science' and I believe that today to use such an obviously academic word as 'science' is deemed discriminatory because some child or other might not like it. They also don't like the kids to have any hands-on experience with kit, believing that leaving them to their own devices to search the Internet for 'stimulation' is far more rewarding and less likely to produce troublesome smart-ar*es who might actually want to learn something.

Cynical? Moi?

 

[securespark]

MK dimmers (and others) have fuses in them so they would be a better bet.