[Question] Down Lighters flickering

[Glynn McGregor]

Hi,

Quick question to anyone that knows the answer.

I have an outside patio section at home with around 10-12 down lighters connected to two different dimmer switches, one is in my room and the other is on the patio, recently the down lighters started flickering like strobe lights when turned on, no matter what brightness setting you choose.

Any ideas on what causes this and what the solution would be.

Thanks

[AndyD]

Are the lamps LED? Is it a 2-way switch setup where you can switch all the lights on and off from either location or is it 2 separate circuits?

Could be a dimmer problem or could be a poor wire termination somewhere. If it's the first then it's just an annoyance, if it's the latter it could be a fire hazard. I'd suggest get an experienced sparky to check the circuit and repair.

[Glynn McGregor]

No its not the LED ones it those standard old school ones, and yes you turn them all on or off from either switch, It always used to work fine until one night it just started flickering, could it be possible that both the dimmer switches have packed up though, also keep in mind i live like almost on the beach, so corrosion is plentiful. I was told once that it could be the dimmer switch but removed the one switch which i thought could be faulty but it still goes off like a strobe on the other switch.
I think getting a sparky out good, but as you know being a man you always like to try fix things first.

[AndyD]

Are the switches of the 'bell-press' type where you push them and the naturally spring back?

[Glynn McGregor]

Yip those exact ones, it looks like a normal light switch, which you push on the bottom of the switch and then it springs back to like an off position, and then you hold it in to change the intensity of the light.

[AndyD]

It's probably the 4-wire dimmer that's faulty but good luck locating it if it's not tucked away in one of the switch back boxes. If you replace the dimmer and there's still flickering it's time to get a sparky to run some tests and find the bad connection.

[ians]

Chances are pretty good that it is a clipsal dimmer, if so throw them away and make sure you fit an R&D dimmer. Clipsal dimmers are absolute rubbish. Just make sure the right size dimmer is fitted.

It sounds like you need to get an electrician to replace them.

[Glynn McGregor]

Hahaha, ya I think a sparky is in order, thanks for all the help and advice.

[DieterT]

From all the dimmet transformers I have used I have found the Clipsal and International Lighting to be the most inconsistant that there are more faulty ones than working ones. Also just bare in mind that the transformer could be leading or trailing edge and when using LED globes on dimmers with locators be sure to use the anti flicker module you have to add inline

"I used to have a lot of anger issues, now I just have a passion for justice"

[DieterT]

Ps : are you using 12v hologen globes the ones with the transformer with the pins at end of globe or 220v hologen the ones with the harness and stud ends?

"I used to have a lot of anger issues, now I just have a passion for justice"

[AndyD]

He said in the opening post the flickering started recently so I doubt it's a leading/trainling edge dimmer compatibility issue.

[Ridge]

Dear

In case you use Shuttle dimmers be aware. They have a problem with loosing it memory settings. This happens when there is a power failure. The result is that is flickers after the power comes back on.

I installed many in a hotel and initially it looks that they work fine. Then I had to come back to fix some every time they did a generator test. I first thought is was the output voltage of the generator. But after last month load shedding I got the same problem and got complains from other clients were I installed Shuttle LED dimmers. After the fifth time going back I decided to replace all of them with another brand dimmers. This solved the problem. I hold my fingers crossed once the next load shedding hits us. I can not imagine they were not aware of this problem at shuttle. As my supplier told me they got lots of comebacks of these LED dimmers especially after the load shedding last month.