Lights on but all channels off

Discussion in 'C-Bus Wired Hardware' started by CBus Eire, Jul 27, 2007.

  1. CBus Eire

    CBus Eire

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    Hi all,

    I am in the middle of setting up my first c-bus system (in my own house) and was so horrified last night when I powered it up for the first time to see some lights on but all channel LEDs on the 4 channel dimmer showing an off state that I quickly powered it down. Is this normal until the units are programmed or is there a fault. The load is 3x 35 watt low voltage downlighters using aurora trafos. At the moment they are the only lights connected and are all on one channel.

    Any help would be great.
     
    CBus Eire, Jul 27, 2007
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  2. CBus Eire

    Leigh

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    Have you enabled the Network Burden and the System Clock on one of the output units, e.g. the dimmer (use the Global tab via Toolkit)?
     
    Leigh, Jul 28, 2007
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  3. CBus Eire

    ashleigh Moderator

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    Sounds like you need to check your wiring.

    If the lights are on and the load indicators on your dimmer / relay are not, then you need to do some digging.
     
    ashleigh, Jul 28, 2007
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  4. CBus Eire

    CBus Eire

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    Yes, Burden and clock enabled on my 5500CN ethernet PC interface. I now have some lights connected to one of the 12ch. relays and a small amount of programming done on this and a saturn dlt switch near the system and this is working fine, I didn't get time to program the dimmer unit that I'm in trouble with. I'll check the wiring tomorrow but I'm certain this is ok, I'm an electrician (it dosen't look good if you doubt your own work!!).
     
    CBus Eire, Jul 28, 2007
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  5. CBus Eire

    CBus Eire

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    I have found the problem, Ch 2 on my 4 ch. dimmer is fried. It is permanently on but all other channels seem to work, so I guess I have a 3 ch. dimmer and need to do some swapping on the rest of the system to find room for the lights that were on the 2nd Ch.
     
    CBus Eire, Jul 29, 2007
    #5
  6. CBus Eire

    ashleigh Moderator

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    OK, if the dimmer channel is fried you have two issues:

    (or maybe 3)

    1. Why did it get fried?

    2. when fried the channels typically go short circuit, thats why its on all the time

    3. How to get the unit swapped / replaced / repaired

    Finding the answer to (1) is probably important before frying more channels. Warranty repairs typically don't cover "customer abuse"!!

    For (3) you'll need to talk to you sales reps to find the channel for a repair/replace.
     
    ashleigh, Jul 29, 2007
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  7. CBus Eire

    Stets

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    What would cause a dimmer channel to fry like that? :confused:
     
    Stets, Jul 30, 2007
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  8. CBus Eire

    CBus Eire

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    I was told by my own plumber that the plumber fitting my geothermal heating was trying to get power to the shed where the heat-pump is and turned on all the MCBs in the distribution board. I'll bet anything one tripped because not all the lights were in place when this happened. As for a replacement, I'm in Ireland where the system is twice the price it is in Australia (really it is, my total system cost ?6000 including shipping but I got a quote for supply only from both an Irish and an English agent of almost ?12000) so I got a relation in Australia to buy it and ship it to me a few units at a time. I know clipsal don't like this because I could not buy online from any Australian agent, they said that they could not ship items to Ireland.
    It is probably not covered under warranty if the plumber did it and trying to explain to a clipsal agent and get a favourable outcome here in Ireland just isn't worth the haste.
    I'll keep an eye on eBay for a new one, but there is no rush.
     
    CBus Eire, Jul 30, 2007
    #8
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