FGD211 Melted

[nullx8 0]

does anyone have experience with Fibaro dimmers ? 

 

i have now 2 which suddenly start to heat up until the casing start to melt .. and then finally stoped working completly.

 

they both where connected with no ground.

 

1. with 140 Watt load (standard Lamp) 

2. with 6 40 watt Standard lamps.

 

this is starting to get sort of serious (i'm thinking of replacing them all with another brand)

in both cases i was around and nothice the malfunction only because the light did not turn off anymore.

 

imagine i would not be there of have not noticed it at all !! 

 

[petergebruers 1,268]

If have 7 dimmers with loads ranging from 60 to 300 W halogen (230V transformerless), functioning well for 2 years now. With normal lamps I assume you mean incandescent 230V lamps?

[nullx8 0]

yes thats the scary part .. this one also worked for over one year .. 

yes i meant "incandescent 230V" .. 

[petergebruers 1,268]

Well, not many reports of destroyed on this board. And often linked to using incompatible inductive//copacitive loads (e.g. compact fluorescent) Maybe a construction flaw. What did [email protected] reply? Still warranty?

[1152 33]

Would be nice if you could add some more details. What specific brand model of lamp. Age, version of FGD21. Has it been installed the same the whole time?. What type of normal use, how many cycles, hrs... You don´t state where you live, what about the status quality of the grid?

[nullx8 0]

Would be nice if you could add some more details. What specific brand model of lamp. Age, version of FGD21. Has it been installed the same the whole time?. What type of normal use, how many cycles, hrs... You don´t state where you live, what about the status quality of the grid?

 

true ... i' beeing not exactly open in details .. let me change this now:

 

- Thailand

- 230 Volts about 2 cuts/month (so not exactly stable)

- dimmer went straight from the box to the switch never moved or touched.

- never rewired anything in the same breaker circuit

- on the same breaker circuit are some Neon lights and some LED lights (different rooms/wires)

- about 8 more z-wave modules (including fibaro switches and some other stuff are connected to the same breaker)

- lamps are standard phillips  incandescent totalling 140 watts

- dimmer is connected without ground

 

however, all this may not the perfect envioment .. but a fire is (unless a lightning hits the house) simplu unacceptable.

the casing was completle melted down at the first one ... and the secound one had severe heat-damage on the case .. 

[nullx8 0]

Well, not many reports of destroyed on this board.

 

on the micasaverde forum are quite alot peoples reporting the same to happen .. and my distributor immideatly confirmed this with a very dry response .. looks like this happens more than we know about it.

[Def461 0]

I have 1 completeley dead and two half-dead dimmers.

After forum's "upgrade" my topic was deleted (!)

 

P.S. The load is less than max recommended: 50W of LEDs on 230V PSU

[nullx8 0]

thanks to datamaine and my Sql hack .. i just checked .. 

the Dimmer was used in the last 16 months 1341 times (on or of or dimming somewhere) either via switch (standard light switch) or via the controller

 

not so much action 

[petergebruers 1,268]

Apart from adding a glass fuse 2A Fast in series with the output, I can't think of anything you can measure or change. The fuse would not protect agains short circuits, but against overload.

 

If you don't have a spare dimmer, you could try the Qubino. It is MOSFET based, trailing edge instead of Fibaro's leading edge. It's designed for 200W resistive load when in a wall box. Fuse it with 0.8AF. I have limited experience with them. In a limited test, I found them to perform better with dimmable and non dimmable CFL and LED. I saw no difference for incandescent lamps.

 

It would be really nice to have a power logger like the 

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(I can't afford one

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/emoticons/default_icon_smile.gif" alt=":-)" />) because it might reveal peaks and oscillations on your power grid.

 

Here the power grid is dense and very low-ohmic, so that we see almost no deviations from ideal sine wave. If you're connected via long feeder lines than more fluctuations are to be expected.

[nullx8 0]

you could try the Qubino. It is MOSFET based, instead of TRIAC.

 

totally agree on that ... MOSFET's suck more power .. but its proof they work as they beeing used basically anywhere.

 

and specially in a "short" or "0 ohm" scenario . .they definitely hold out without catching fire ... 

well okay i have killed some already but under moreless extreme circumstances

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/emoticons/default_wink.png" alt=";)" srcset="https://forum.fibaro.com/uploads/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> 

 

i had some contact with Qubino, but they apear to be unable to provide me with a point of sale .. as they directly do only wholesale and no reseller sends to asia ... 

would you mind share where you git yours ? 

[petergebruers 1,268]

I've bought them from Robbshop. They sell Fibaro too, so I don't think I am violating a forum rule here...

 

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[Def461 0]

petergebruers

221 dimmer based on D4NK60 MOSFET

[petergebruers 1,268]

petergebruers

221 dimmer based on D4NK60 MOSFET

 

I always assumed it was a triac because it is a leading edge dimmer. If you found out the exact part number, then I stand corrected! I have edited my post, I've removed the reference to triac but instead added the difference between leading and trailing dimming.

 

Do you think that would explain the original observations of nullx8?

 

Would a Qubino help, knowing it uses the same kind of power switch?

 

And purely for speculation: if they don't use a triac, why didn't they implement a trailing edge dimmer, in my observation a more compatible choice for LED an CFL?

[Def461 0]

Trust me, I have 3 dead dimmers on 3 different loads.

One dimmer I've opened

 

All other your questions - out of my competence.

I'm 35 years with the soldering gun, but can't understand a lot of FIbaro's faults.

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[budda 5]

My melted after a few years of being in operation. I removed all the others from my house as a safety precaution.

 

See 

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[petergebruers 1,268]

Out of curiosity... Did these dimmers fail "open" or "short"? I guess the answer is "open". So your circuit breaker didn't trip.

[budda 5]

Out of curiosity... Did these dimmers fail "open" or "short"? I guess the answer is "open". So your circuit breaker didn't trip.

 

Not 100% what you mean but mine was in melt down during the daytime with the lights / load off. I only detected it due to the smell when I walked past the light switch it was fitted behind (lucky!)

[petergebruers 1,268]

Sorry for not being clear. I was curious to know if the dimmer seemed stuck in the "on" position or in the "off" position after its meltdown. But that was assuming that it melted due to current flowing with the dimmer "on" and some load attached.

But you say the dimmer was "off" all the time, so I have not been asking the right question! 

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/emoticons/default_icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":-D" />

You gave an informative answer: it happened under no load (and not *under load* as I wrongly assumed). Without the actual device I have to speculate what it means... Probably the power supply part of the module failed. Maybe because of an electric surge (like direct or indirect lightning strike).

Thanks for the info!

[nullx8 0]

Out of curiosity... Did these dimmers fail "open" or "short"? I guess the answer is "open". So your circuit breaker didn't trip.

 

one of mine failed at 0% and the other at 100% 

but i'm quite sure the lamps turning on was part of the fault.

 

breakers stay fine on both .. one 10A the other one 8A