Faulty CBus lighting system

Discussion in 'C-Bus Wired Hardware' started by Stevehudson, May 28, 2016.

  1. Stevehudson

    Stevehudson

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    I bought a house with an existing CBus system. I have 11 X 4 channel units with 5 dimming units and 6 straight relays. It was installed in the roof space. It doesn't have a display. The house was built around 2000 so I assume the unit is 16 yrs old. Recently I came in to the kitchen to find the wall switches flashing and the lights unresponsive. They eventually worked but I had this problem happen several times over several months. I called in a certified Clipsal technician who said that the whole system needed to be upgraded because it was an old system but after he told me it was going to cost $11000 I thought he was just after a quick buck. I was not convinced he knew what he was doing. I called in another tech who gave me even less confidence as he was not able to determine if it was a fault with the power supply or with a relay or with a dimmer. He didn't seem to know what he was doing. So I just left everything for the time until I could find someone I could trust.

    About a month ago I came in and found the whole system would not respond. I booted the house 240 v power supply at the circuit breaker and the lights started working again after an hour. All the lights have been working since although i have had the odd occasion where one relay was briefly unresponsive in the morning. I find this very odd. From my deductive reasoning, it would seem to be a faulty/ variable power supply. I would feel a bit better if I could at least understand the problem. how I can do to do a proper diagnosis? I am a bit worried about calling in another tech as they seem to know about as much as me and Seem to be more interested in selling me a new system because they don't know what is wrong - which I can't afford. How do I find a good CBus tech in perth???
     
    Stevehudson, May 28, 2016
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  2. Stevehudson

    bmerrick

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    Hi Steve,

    I'm in Sydney and can smell the BS from here!! Replace the whole system, yeah right!!! Your intuition and your approach is spot on so keep questioning what looks or sounds fishy.

    You do need to find a local with some real C-Bus skills, perhaps a few of the experienced guys from on the forum here will likely message you or post.

    Steve, site(sight) unseen and as you have already surmised, you may have one or two power supplies that are questionable based on their age. The fact that the relays and dimmers work perfectly the rest of the time suggests to me that they have low probability of being any issue. The other item that can affect communications and I would check first would be the burden, just from the fact that they are really inexpensive to replace (sub $20).

    The flashing of the light switches is really just telling you the switch is having a communications problem talking to other parts of the C-Bus network at that point in time.

    A C-Bus diagnostic utility can be run on your C-Bus network that will identify any individual units (switches, relays or dimmers etc) that are on their way out and you can choose to replace them or otherwise based on sound information. It can also help point to cable issues, for instance if units on one segment of the network report more failures etc.

    I am sure you can find someone local on here with solid experience and happy to help you out, but if not, I love Perth and am up for a nice flight to help you and it won't cost $11,000 :p

    Feel free to PM me with any questions etc,

    All the best with it.

    Brad
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 29, 2016
    bmerrick, May 29, 2016
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  3. Stevehudson

    Stevehudson

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    Thanks brad. I will investigate the burden.
     
    Stevehudson, May 29, 2016
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  4. Stevehudson

    qun

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    qun, May 31, 2016
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  5. Stevehudson

    Stevehudson

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    Unfortunately 2 of the companies that I had come out were on the Clipsal qualified installer list. They were more interested in having me fund their new Landcruiser Safari than provide genuine advice. I am interested to find out if there are any technicians that people have worked with in the past that are good and have integrity.
     
    Stevehudson, Jun 1, 2016
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  6. Stevehudson

    bmerrick

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    Hi Steve,

    Turn on Personal Messages so that some locals with experience can contact you.

    If you can't enable it, you may have to post a reply again or wait a certain timeframe to enable PM as I think it becomes enabled after some threshold eg. after 5 forum posts, 14 days or something like that.

    Brad
     
    bmerrick, Jun 3, 2016
    #6
  7. Stevehudson

    NickD Moderator

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    I checked, he can received PMs already.

    Nick
     
    NickD, Jun 3, 2016
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  8. Stevehudson

    bmerrick

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    Hey Nick,

    Howsit!! :)

    I am getting an error and the dreaded 'Stevehudson has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her.'

    Maybe you have admin access?

    Brad
     
    bmerrick, Jun 3, 2016
    #8
  9. Stevehudson

    NickD Moderator

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    Seems I need admin (and not moderator) access to change it.
     
    NickD, Jun 3, 2016
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  10. Stevehudson

    jboer

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    PMs

    We keep coming up with this problem and maybe one of the Admins can review, but PMing is only enabled once you are not a 'newbie' I think after 20 posts? or ect.

    However the people who mostly need PM access are the newer people! I know it does help prevent spammers from PMing everyone though....
     
    jboer, Jun 4, 2016
    #10
  11. Stevehudson

    znelbok

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    Can a newbie be allowed to receive PM's from creation of account but not send any unless they are a reply. That would stop spamming and allow them to receive help and respond
     
    znelbok, Jun 5, 2016
    #11
  12. Stevehudson

    ashleigh Moderator

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    Pm

    Apologies.

    New users can't sent or receive pms at all. They need to manually have the user group changed. This was due to abuse some time ago.

    I have fixed Steve Hudson so should now be able to receive messages.

    Other new users will have to wait until I get back from holiday.

    Driving the administration control panel from a mobile phone is not nice.

    Rgds
     
    ashleigh, Jun 5, 2016
    #12
  13. Stevehudson

    Stevehudson

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    Update on CBUS issue

    Hi guys.
    I just wanted to update you on the status my CBus issue. I contacted Simon Brncic from Intelligent Home in Osborne Park in Perth WA. He was fantastic. He recognised that there was a intermittent fault. it wasn't happening at that moment but narrowed it down to a power supply or a light switch.He explained what I needed to do to save time and money by 2 simple tests I could do myself when it happened next. Next time the lights played up, the diagnosis revealed a power supply, which we replaced. That didn't solve all the problems as later a light switch Was also found to be faulty and was replaced. Everything has been working fine since being replaced around early late July/ August
    I was really happy with Simons professionalism and eagerness to help. Highly recommend him if you need a great CBus tech in Perth. You can find him at Intelligent Homes in Osborne Park in WA. Thanks to everyone on the forum, particularly Brad for our offline discussion and support.
     
    Stevehudson, Sep 11, 2016
    #13
  14. Stevehudson

    bmerrick

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    Hi Steve,

    Great to hear you got it solved and for far less than the Landcruiser Safari :)

    Thanks also for posting back the results too, as most contributors are interested to hear what happened.

    Brad
     
    bmerrick, Sep 11, 2016
    #14
  15. Stevehudson

    georgecbus

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    fault

    hey mate im a cbus installer/ programmer and electrician. if you still need the power supply replaced flick us a text. im located in success
     
    georgecbus, Jan 12, 2017
    #15
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