C-Bus wall switches are not illuminating

Hi, I hope I have posted this question in the right place. My C-Bus 5 button wall switches used to illuminate if I pressed one of the buttons and made it easy to read, now they stay dimmed and are very hard to read. Any idea what might be wrong with them..

 

The intensity of the backlight can be controlled by a group address, so if multiple devices have changed at the same time the most likely cause is that the group address has been set to zero. Depending on who set the system up they may have assigned that group to a day/night schedule or another switch somewhere in the house. You will need to scan the system with toolkit to confirm this.

 

If it has just happened, more than likely the backlight on the switch has failed. So new switch would be required.

 

I was responding on the fact he said switches in plural.

 

Hi Ashley,
Thanks for the quick reply to my question. I have had a local electrician out recently who replaced one faulty switch and reprogrammed several others, I know he's checked the day/night settings.
What do you mean when you say the likely cause could be that the group address has been set to zero?
I know I can download the toolkit from C-Bus but I would also need the interface that the electrician plugs in between the laptop and the connection in the wall, where is the best place to buy one of these at the cheapest price?
Thanks Paul.

 

So did the fault appear after the electrician did his work, or some time later? Did all the devices start misbehaving at the same time? Was the faulty switch that was replaced exhibiting the same behavior?

The back light level can be controlled in a number of ways. One option allows you to control the level externally as though it was a standard light dimmer. This is often used in conjunction with a schedule that sets a high level during the day and a lower level at night. If that level gets gets set to zero the back light will be permanently off. Note that this is just one possibility based on the evidence you have supplied. You either need to get your electrician back to check this out for you, or you can do it yourself by purchasing an interface and downloading toolkit from the cis web site. Interfaces frequently come up on ebay. You can use a Serial, USB or network interface. The wiser can also be used as an interface. Be aware if you go this route you will need to spend some time getting to know the system as you can introduce strange behavior that can be hard to find. It does give you the most flexibility of course.