Multiple dimmable switches and circuits connected

Getting around to bedroom lighting, what I would like to achieve is:

Circuit 1: pendant light (centre of main ceiling)
Circuit 2: LED tape and LED downlights (in dropped ceiling with tape in coving and downlights in the dropped ceiling)
Circuit 3: bedside light left
Circuit 4: bedside light right

i.e. looks a bit like the below



Switch 1: 2-gang dimmable for circuit 1 and 2 (main switch as you enter bedroom)
Switch 2: 3-gang dimmable for circuit 1, 2 & 3 (for left of bedside)
Switch 3: 3-gang dimmable for circuit 1, 2 & 4 (for right of bedside)

Thus as you enter room, you can turn the main room lights on then on each side of the bed you can turn those lights on/off but also can do the individual bedside light.

I have 2 questions:

1) do modern dimmer switches play nice combining LED tape and LED downlights on the same circuit (assuming both would respond well to trailing edge with LED tape being fed by appropriate driver)?
2) Varilight V-Pro do a 3-gang dimmer but for the master/supplementary only seem to do a 2-gang (i.e. so that you can have two dimmers on the same circuit and not cause issues). Are there any reputable alternatives that could offer a solution i.e. enable 3 dimmers to affect a single circuit without issue and that go up to 3-gang?

Thanks in advance!

One more to add...

3) the 2x bedside switches will be 3-gang modular dimmers with 1x 1-way for the bedside light and 2x 3-way for the other 2 circuits and other 2 switches. Basically at the intermediate switch for example I will have 6 wires (4x straps consisting of 1mm T+E as well as the 1x live feed and 1x out to bedside light each consisting of single and earth). A 35mm backbox will be essential given the dimmer modules but even then am I going to struggle getting 6 wires in a double back box with 3 dimmer modules?

If I'm understanding correctly, you'd like to be able to dim the same light fittings from 3 locations. This will be tricky with standard dimmers - you'll need some kind of control unit from the likes of Lutron where by the wall mounted dimmers are basically remote controls for the control unit.

Jim_e_Jib said:

If I'm understanding correctly, you'd like to be able to dim the same light fittings from 3 locations. This will be tricky with standard dimmers - you'll need some kind of control unit from the likes of Lutron where by the wall mounted dimmers are basically remote controls for the control unit.

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I thought the varilight do the master and slave units where the master can control 2 slaves? Ie 3 switches in total

Electronic switches, be it simple on/off or dimming have problems with LED lights, the problem is an LED is a DC device and runs on around 5 volt, so inside the bulb there is a driver that converts 230 volt AC to the current required by the LED and there are loads of methods used to do this.

So could be a capacitor to limit current, then a full wave rectifier to make it DC with a smoothing capacitor and a leak resistor so touching the contacts when removing the bulb you will not get a shock from the bulb.

But it could also have a pulse width modulating chip and there is nothing on the bulb to say what has been used.

Wife insisted on having a chandelier with G9 bulbs, with quartz there has to be a cover to stop harmful rays and catch white hot bits if it shatters, to get the same look i.e. covers fit with LED the LED lamp is smaller than the smoothing capacitor used in larger lamps, so I got lamps flashing when off, and a shimmer when on, some thing inside the lamp was reacting with some thing inside the neutral less electronic switch.

So load capacitor stopped flashing but not shimmer swapping to a larger bulb stopped shimmer but covers will not fit, so light looks very different. And of the five smart switches now down to two, where they have gone wrong in the last two years.

Now in wife's room I also have two smart bulbs (zigbee) and a Lidi remote control which came with a set of 3 GU10 lamps on stalks which was used else where, and the remote works the two completely different bulbs together, so she can switch on/off or dim from bed side, although to change colour needs her phone.

It depends on the bulb type, unlikely to get a smart G9 bulb, but E14, E27, B22, GU10 all done as smart.

Living room with an 8 bulb chandelier it would cost a fortune to use smart bulbs. But if you looked at how many G9 bulbs I tried before finding a set that would work with a smart switch, that also cost a lot.

Bedroom in old house hard wired three gang at entrance and two gang either side of bed, so three sets of lights using two way and intermediate switches. This house loft floored so access hard, so wanted a way around lack of 2 way switching.

However no magic wand method, and I am not sure I would use electronic switches again.

Mjward said:

I thought the varilight do the master and slave units where the master can control 2 slaves? Ie 3 switches in total

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I'm not that familiar with these - if that is the case, all should be well

Energenie also does master slave and no neutral required, but not seen the slave sold without a master.

Will have look into them cheers

Right had good dialogue with Varilight on this. It seems not possible in the format I want because LED tape requires TRIAC Leading edge dimmers and LED downlights require Trailing edge i.e. no easy fix to have them combined to same switch. No big deal, have decided to just make the main room switch an on/off rocker and make the bedside lights themselves 1-way dimmable, using 2-way/intermediate rockers to control the main lights.

Completely separate (and might need to create new thread) but... I found the source of a borrowed neutral and sorted it out, got a spark to come out and separate the upstairs/downstairs circuits at the consumer unit. Does that work require a new certificate/building control notification?

EricMark said:

Wife insisted on having a chandelier with G9 bulbs, with quartz there has to be a cover to stop harmful rays and catch white hot bits if it shatters, to get the same look i.e. covers fit with LED the LED lamp is smaller than the smoothing capacitor used in larger lamps,

I

Click to expand...

Nothing to do with dimmers, but I haven't found a G9 sized replacement LED G9 lamp that will last long in anything other than free air. The things are so small and compact that they cook the electronics.