Help Please - Dimmer Brightness

[stevemills]

Hi

Bit of a strange one, but we had some problems with the mains power to the house going off a few times one day recently and since then the chandelier light we have in our bedroom will not go to full brightness using the dimmer switch.

The light is a 6 bulb chandelier and the dimmer switch was some sort of fancy remote control thing (touch sensor or controlled by a programmable button on any remote control), bought from B&Q.

Since the power-cuts the light will not go to full brightness, leaving the room too dark. All the bulbs are OK (have tried replacing, but no difference).

The lights dim all the way down and then as they go back up, they don't get to full brightness before they start to dim again.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Steve

 

[FAA Greenie]

Hi Steve, the only thing I can think of that your street, or part of it has suffered a power surge. Effectively an over voltage to your installation.

Power to your house would have been interrupted whilst the DNO were making repairs.

Has anyone else in the street had any issues?

Is it an expensive dimmer? If not it may be worth trying a new one in there to see what happens. If you feel competent enough to do this yourself, please ensure you switch off (Isolate) the lighting circuit at your consumer unit beforehand.

 

[stevemills]

OK thanks, I'll try a new switch and see what happens.

 

[Andy78]

I had one of those exact dimmers in my kids bedroom. Total rubbish, malfunctioned all the time. Would switch itself on in the middle of the night and wake the kids up, and never dimmed properly. It could just be coincidence or it could have been damaged as greenie says.

Fit another would be my suggestion, probably not from B&Q. It's a simple job if you are confident to fully isolate all power before you change it.
If you have a proper voltage tester you can test the wires are dead properly. If not I would suggest isolating the whole house at the consumer unit main switch.

If not, it should be a cheap job for a local electrician.

 

[stevemills]

Thanks for the reply. I fitted it myself in the first place, so happy enough to replace it. We've actually not had any problems with it at all and it's been in about 5 years now, it's just after these power cuts that the light just won't got to full brightness, the dimmer still works perfectly apart from that.

 

[Marvo]

5 years for a dimmer isn't bad at all. They're prone to damage by numerous things such as surges, overheating, physical trauma and even a bulb in the chandelier blowing can damage the diac or other internal components. I would also vote for a decent quality replacement.

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Dimmers are inherently crap, cheap one expensive ones, they are all crap. Bin it and put a standard switch on, i bet you never use the god damn thing anyway.

Cheers.............Howard

PS This rant is in no way intended to offend those who have an affection with these bloody awful devices, its just that i hate them.

 

[Engineer54]

Dimmers are inherently crap, cheap one expensive ones, they are all crap. Bin it and put a standard switch on, i bet you never use the god damn thing anyway.

Cheers.............Howard

PS This rant is in no way intended to offend those who have an affection with these bloody awful devices, its just that i hate them.

I have the same feelings on dimmers, but it also extends to PIR's too!! lol!! Never come across any of them that last. As you say expensive or cheap, they are basically all crap...