Installing a 2-way dimmer switch from Varilight (master/companion set up)

[Nick75]

Hello,

I recently purchased two Varilight dimmers to replace rocker light switches in my bedroom. My goal is to be able to fully control the lights from both dimmers so I purposefully purchased models that act as Master / Companion Controller. I have not been able to get these Varilight dimmers to work together properly and am asking for some help as this feels like it should be pretty straight forward.

Room setup:
First switch: 2 gang switch: 1 rocker controls 5 LED lights on ceiling (7 watts per LED), 1 rocker controls a single LED light in ceiling.
Second switch: 1 rocker, controls same set of 5 lights as rocker in first switch.

Varilight Models:
1. JQM102W (master) - Data Sheet
2. JQS1W (companion controller) - Data Sheet

Existing rocker switch set up

First switch: 2 gang switch: 1 rocker controls 5 LED lights on ceiling (7 watts per LED), 1 rocker controls a single LED light in ceiling.


Second switch: 1 rocker, controls same set of 5 lights as rocker in first switch.



With the master switch alone (ie/ Varlight dimmer master + old rocker switch), I am able to get the dimmer to work correctly. The other rocker switch in this instance just turns the lights off or on at full power (no memory of previous setting).

When I replace that second rocker switch with the companion dimmer, the lights of the 2-way switch flicker rapidly at full power with no way to shut them off; using either dimmer's on/off switch does nothing. The second dimmer of the main switch which controls a single 1-way light (single brown and single blue wires) works fine however. I have attached below pictures of my attempted set up, as well as diagrams.



I tried switching the brown and black cables in the companion switch, that didn't work.

I would appreciate any help on how these should be wired to work as advertised. Thank you!

 

[Avo Mk8]

Hello,

I recently purchased two Varilight dimmers to replace rocker light switches in my bedroom. My goal is to be able to fully control the lights from both dimmers so I purposefully purchased models that act as Master / Companion Controller. I have not been able to get these Varilight dimmers to work together properly and am asking for some help as this feels like it should be pretty straight forward.

Room setup:
First switch: 2 gang switch: 1 rocker controls 5 LED lights on ceiling (7 watts per LED), 1 rocker controls a single LED light in ceiling.
Second switch: 1 rocker, controls same set of 5 lights as rocker in first switch.

Varilight Models:
1. JQM102W (master) - Data Sheet
2. JQS1W (companion controller) - Data Sheet

Existing rocker switch set up

First switch: 2 gang switch: 1 rocker controls 5 LED lights on ceiling (7 watts per LED), 1 rocker controls a single LED light in ceiling.
View attachment 118970View attachment 118971

Second switch: 1 rocker, controls same set of 5 lights as rocker in first switch.
View attachment 118972


With the master switch alone (ie/ Varlight dimmer master + old rocker switch), I am able to get the dimmer to work correctly. The other rocker switch in this instance just turns the lights off or on at full power (no memory of previous setting).

When I replace that second rocker switch with the companion dimmer, the lights of the 2-way switch flicker rapidly at full power with no way to shut them off; using either dimmer's on/off switch does nothing. The second dimmer of the main switch which controls a single 1-way light (single brown and single blue wires) works fine however. I have attached below pictures of my attempted set up, as well as diagrams.

View attachment 118973

I tried switching the brown and black cables in the companion switch, that didn't work.

I would appreciate any help on how these should be wired to work as advertised. Thank you!

I'm not sure the blue wire should be in the 'S' terminal of the main dimmer (pic 1), surely should only be the grey?
The 'S' terminal is a 'signal' wire to the companion controller, and shouldn't be connected to the lighting circuit L or N.
Supposed to be wired thus:

 

[freddo]

That's wired very wrong. Blue and grey should be in the wiggly symbol terminal, black in S. The 'companion' should be wired in exactly the same way as the main one.

Your other one way dimmer is technically wired backwards too, brown should be in L blue in wiggly symbol. I've not used this version of these dimmers before so I don't know if your current wiring has damaged anything.

 

[littlespark]

I’ve seen a Lightwave master/ slave switch wired wrong like that with a 230V being sent into the signal terminal.

Stinked of fish and was a bit smoky.

 

[Nick75]

That's wired very wrong. Blue and grey should be in the wiggly symbol terminal, black in S. The 'companion' should be wired in exactly the same way as the main one.

Your other one way dimmer is technically wired backwards too, brown should be in L blue in wiggly symbol. I've not used this version of these dimmers before so I don't know if your current wiring has damaged anything.

Hello freddo (and everyone else who commented!),

Thanks for your comment. Using that info, I now have this on the main:



and this on the Companion:




Switching the blue and brown wires on the single light dimmer continues to work just fine.

Putting the blue/grey in squiggly line, black in S, and both browns in L results in the main dimmer switch working fine but it is now acting like a 1-way switch. Indeed, the companion switch is basically non-existant. It does not have any effect what-so-ever on the lights. I even tried reversing brown and grey, no effect.

When I put the previous switch back on (with COM, L1, L2), it also now has zero effect on the lights (whereas before it would at least be able to turn on/off the same lights the Master dimmer was controlling.

So although this new configuration works, it seems to be doing less than what I had before (with the exception of the single-light dimmer which is working the same). Any thoughts?