Architechtural Dimmers

I have an installation where 1 Architectural Dimmers along with a DSI module 7 DLT switches along with with two sensors (for IR Remote for the DLT's) which are helping in controlling the lights.

With the units installed as per the requirement and functioning as it should according to the basics is working perfectly. But the question is that Why does the lights in a particular area dim back up to 100% after being dimmed down to a 50% level?? And this happens approximately after 2 hours. I have checked the programming of the dimmers and the sensors. But nothing seems to be amiss.
I analyzed the situation and thought it would be overheating (which was an issue in an other project and created louvered doors which solved the issue) so I kept the panel doors open but the problem re-occured.

I am stumped coz i have tried evrything to solve this issue but haven't found the appropriate solution.

Thanks in advance.

 

Whenever units do things that aren't expected the first step is to hook up the C-Bus Diagnostic utility and log the network traffic, paying particular attention to the network messages that occur at the time of the problem. This usually is quite revealing.

 

Diagnostics Tool



Mr. Newman Thanks for letting me know about this nifty little tool.
But being a noob on using this tool could you please guide me in using the right options to get the right results.


Thanking you inadvance

 

The Diagnostic Utility allows you to see what messages are happening on your C-Bus network.

To connect to a C-Bus network, all you need is a free PCI or CNI. You specify the COM port of your PCI, or the IP address of your CNI, on the Options -> Program Options menu. Whilst you're doing this, tick all the boxes in the Decode Options groupbox, so that you get the most verbose descriptions of the messages.

So that we can identify what time the messages occurred, turn on timestamping by selecting the Options -> Show Time menu item.

With those options set, you can connect to C-Bus. You do this by selecting the C-Bus -> Connect to C-Bus menu it.

Once you've got this far, change the state of a group address by pushing a key input unit button on your network. You should get a message that looks something like:
Rx : Local Network, Source Unit 100, Lighting, GA 1 On
This is telling you that there was a message that came from the local network, from the unit at address 100, using the Lighting application, that turned Group Address 1 on.

So that you don't have to be watching the screen at the exact moment things don't work right, the Diagnostic Utility includes a logging feature. To turn it on, select the Options -> Log Commands option. Red text saying 'LOGGING ACTIVE' should appear. This will record everything you see in the message window into a file. The path for the file is the installation directory of the Diagnostic Utility, usually 'C:\Clipsal\Diagnostic Utility'. The file will be date and time stamped with the start of the log.
Note: Because everything is time stamped it's worth making sure your PC time is correct.

Now, all you have to do is wait for the misbehaviour to occur, and go through the log to see what messages happened on C-Bus at that particular time. This will enable you to pinpoint exactly which unit is the cause of your problem.

 

Mr. Newman

Thanks for the reply.

I was able to get to the point as you described and now i have a clear idea of how this nifty little utility works. I had the logging active. i had the time stamps on as well as the and i was getting the message exactly the way you described.
I left the pc on the whole night just to see what exactly was creating that situation.

I really appreciate the quick response that i got from you.

P.S one last question does the arch dimmer need to be connected as Red Yellow and Blue every 4 channels or could it be connected RYB one after the other.

 

You can loop all 3 phases together and run it from a single phase. This is fine for testing purposes but you will very quickly overload your supply wiring if you hook up any big loads.