Fibaro Dimmer 2 and light goes off after less than 1 asecond

[Alex 32]

I have one problem:
I tried to install the new dimmer 2.

Everything worked fine so far (inclusion, automatic detection).

I have two momentary switches. If I use one of them controlling light works fine.

I am having two light in a row (two lamps at different positions).

 

The dimmer 2 module is connected to L, N. The output of switch 1 is connected to S1 (the other switch is connected to the first switch via

Light 1 is connected to O, than to the second light and back to neutral.

(So phase is connected to L of the module and input to the switches, neutral lead to N and end of second light, output of switch is connected to S1 and this "O" from the module is connected to the first light)

 

 

Now the problem:

If I switch on the lights via app or web page it goes on to the dimming value I want.  but only for very short time (less than a second).

So it switches off directly.

If I repeat this it happens again. But after the third or fourth time the light stays on.

After switching it off again and waiting for a minute (I have not measured this) I can reproduce this behaviour.

 

 

What have I done wrong?

Any more details needed?

[petergebruers 1,268]

Do you (still) have bypass 1 connected?

Edit: is it a 2-wire setup?

[Igy 23]

No bypass, 2wire connection. As stated before, problem is not present when light bulb changed from regular one to halogen. And I thought that bypass is needed only for low consumption bulbs (e.g. LED) to solve dimmed or off issues.

[petergebruers 1,268]

The bypass also helps to give the dimmer a better supply in 2-wire connection. I take it the "regular bulb" is > 50 Watt? In 2-wire setup you can try to lower parameter 2 (maximum brightness) in steps of 5.

From the manual:

In the case of 2-wire connection, FIBARO Bypass 2 allows to reduce minimum power of load required by the Dimmer 2 for correct operation. FGB-002 provides powering of the Dimmer 2 in case of controlling the low loads of minimum power down to 5VA (for cosφ>0.5).

[noname 0]

Igy, read this topic - i think it will be helpful

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Basically, just lower the maximum brightness level parameter 2 or make a recalibration with parameter 13 set to 1 (calibration without bypass 2 installed)

In 2 wire configuration there always will be a problem with having 100% power. Dimmer can't operate at full brightness, while the rest of the available voltage is consumed by itself. The only option is to connect everything in 3 wire setup.

 

 

Ok,

1. You have a 2 Wire connection, that means Dimmer powers when voltage is not applied to the output. If You set too high parameter 2 with a combination of load power, the Dimmer will turn itself off preventing hard power reset. The solution is simple:

 

-> please change parameter 2 to a lower value (55 for example or leave after calibration result). You can have variations in mains voltage that cause problems with "to low power applied to module" the problem should not occur after the change. What i can say, that the load is a 40W bulb or something near probably, so the Dimmer operates at his margin. Is this correct?

Parameter 14 means that You have changed the settings by yourself

[Igy 23]

@noname: I think my problem is little bit different. Dimmer is working correctly but after it reach 80% of max volume, it turns off itself with one specific bulb (regular 60W old fashioned bulb). I know that part of the power is being consumed by dimmer itself, but setting the max level to 80% is way off.

@petergebruers: Its 60W bulb. I don't see any technical reason why the dimmer should turn itself off when reaching the highest volume on 60 watt bulb. In this case is the current for the dimmer highest available. As stated before, dimmer behaves like there was over-current / overload on it - it tries to turn on the light 3 times by itself after it turns off. Before it turns itself of, the power consumption reading is on the level 58 watts. 

But anyway, changing the bulb to other (with halogen bulb inside the regular) solved the issue. The problematic bulb is used with dimmer 1 without any issue. It seems that older can be better in some cases

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[petergebruers 1,268]

@petergebruers: Its 60W bulb. I don't see any technical reason why the dimmer should turn itself off when reaching the highest volume on 60 watt bulb. In this case is the current for the dimmer highest available. (...)

Thanks. That's clever thinking. But the power supply of the dimmers use the voltage between O and L, not the current "through" the dimmer. If you set the light to maximum brightness, the voltage across the light is also maximum. That means, nothing is left across O and L and the dimmer has no more supply left. Under a certain amount of available supply, the dimmer shuts down. If you ever wondered if there is any advantage to running a 3-wire setup... it can use (almost) any dimming level between 0 and 100% all the time. Not that the perceived brightness of a lamp may not change a lot when you decrease the maximum brightness setting, while it may provide the FGD with sufficient voltage.

Do I make sense? I know I'm sometimes (way) to technical but I don't always detect that myself

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Edit: BTW I have some incandescent bulbs (classical and halogen) and I'll try to replicate your problem in a 2-Wire setup. I have to make a setup, because all my dimmers in the house use 3-wire.

[Igy 23]

OK that gives me a sense. Unfortunately in this case I don't have 3 wire setup option directly near the switch

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/emoticons/default_icon_sad.gif" alt=":-(" /> I will try to test it in other place later with same bulb on 3 wires to see if there is difference. 

[petergebruers 1,268]

That would be an interesting test! Super!

[Igy 23]

_{So the issue is back also with halogen bulb. Unfortunately its a random issue and lights go off only sometimes. And than 3 automatic attemps to turn the light on.}

[petergebruers 1,268]

Still two wire? What is your max dim level (param 2)?

[Igy 23]

Yes 2 wire, didnt have time to change dimmers. Will try it soon. But its strange overall, even the consumption reading states it has 75W on 60W bulb. Parameter 2 is set to 70% i guess by auto calibration because previously it was 99%. If I change it to 99% problems persist. If I set it to 70%, it works OK, but when I slide the dimmer slider or use double click on switch it goes to 99% and then turns off. Will try the test tomorrow with 3 wire setup

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[petergebruers 1,268]

The behavior you describe is normal for 2-wire. Setting p2 higher than about 80 will cause shutdown, because that doesn't leave enough voltage for the supply of the dimmer. That's why autocal chooses a low value. Are you unhappy with the dimmer at autocal settings? In my tests, the difference in light output between 70 and 99 is less than what you would expect from these numbers...

[Igy 23]

OK. So I used dimmer 2 in other room on 3 wire setup with the same bulb. Everything works without any issues

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/emoticons/default_icon_smile.gif" alt=":-)" /> I will use dimmer one n room with 2 wire option only. Anyway, its strange that dimmer one doesn't have this kind of issue. Maybe its the matter of advanced functionality and possibility to dim other type of light sources. Thanks for help petergebruers!

[Igy 23]

And now the other problem occurred. On 3 wire installation, from user point of view in random cases, light starts to flash/blink multiple times and than it continues for a while and blinks again. No matter whats the dimm level. There is one post about this 

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 but no solution and no proper explanation for me. Setup is the same as before - 3 wire setup, auto calibration, 60w regular bulb. Any ideas what should be the problem? I will try to change the bulb to other type, but its strange behavior. 

[petergebruers 1,268]

And now the other problem occurred. On 3 wire installation, from user point of view in random cases, light starts to flash/blink multiple times and than it continues for a while and blinks again. No matter whats the dimm level. There is one post about this 

Please login or register to see this link.

 but no solution and no proper explanation for me. Setup is the same as before - 3 wire setup, auto calibration, 60w regular bulb. Any ideas what should be the problem? I will try to change the bulb to other type, but its strange behavior.

I know about the issues in the other thread. I was unable to reproduce that "disco effect" (I like the name, I think it describes the effect rather well) so I am unable to test for possible causes. I weigh my words: I speculate that a certain type of interference or harmonic distortion on the power grid causes this. It's really speculation, because I can't make my dimmers do this. And if I could reproduce it, I would need the right equipment to measure this (and I don't have it). You are talking of a "60 W regular bulb" and sjauquet uses 230 V Philips Master LED. User Mo19 uses a halotronic transformer, so his case is probably different. I'm sorry I can't be of any help... I don't know the cause and I don't have a clue about possible solutions.

[sjauquet 16]

in my case, regular bulbs of 75w or led lights had the same effect

[Igy 23]

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 you mean same "disco" effect or "turn off" effect?

[sjauquet 16]

both effects happens even with 75w halogen bulbs

[Igy 23]

Another test executed. Changed light bulbs to other type. Disco effect persist. Than used another dimmer 2 in to second room. Same disco effect occurred in both rooms at the same time. This way I think that there are only 2 options of this behavior:

1. dimmer 2 is sensitive on power grid quality and any even not significant change in it starts this disco effect?

2. its common z wave network/controller issue with this dimmers and they receive some strange command at the same time? 

[sjauquet 16]

In my case the disco effect is most of the time only one dimmer 2 who start blinking.

It has already happened twice (in 3 weeks) that a disco happened on 2 dimmer 2 at the same time, but the start and end time of the blinking where not the same (seconds of difference).