Jump to content

Welcome to Smart Home Forum by FIBARO

Dear Guest,

 

as you can notice parts of Smart Home Forum by FIBARO is not available for you. You have to register in order to view all content and post in our community. Don't worry! Registration is a simple free process that requires minimal information for you to sign up. Become a part of of Smart Home Forum by FIBARO by creating an account.

 

As a member you can:

  •     Start new topics and reply to others
  •     Follow topics and users to get email updates
  •     Get your own profile page and make new friends
  •     Send personal messages
  •     ... and learn a lot about our system!

 

Regards,

Smart Home Forum by FIBARO Team


Question

Posted

Hi,

I got a light that got a max load of 500w. Would it be possible to still use the dimmer 2 despite its only valid for max 250w if I restrict it to let say 50% dimming? Will the dimmer 2 auto calibrate this automatically? To set the min/max of dimming.

8 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
Posted

I think that doesn't work, but not I'm not 100% sure. It's one of the things I tried when I got my first FGD-212. But that was a long time ago and it certainly wasn't an in-depth test. I know the dimmer not only detects the average watts, but also measures peak current. Anyway, if you want to be sure I can setup a test and let you know. Unfortunately, I'm not at home. If nobody answer this question before Wednesday, I'll make a bench setup... is that OK?

  • 0
Posted

Yes, you can decrease max brightness to get the 500w below the 250w. First let it calibrate and then reduce brightness until the power usage gets below 250w.

  • 0
Posted

Yes, you can decrease max brightness to get the 500w below the 250w. First let it calibrate and then reduce brightness until the power usage gets below 250w.

Awesome! Now I can do something else on wednesday!

Please login or register to see this image.

/emoticons/default_icon_smile.gif" alt=":-)" />

Btw do you happen to know if it is a true 500 W lamp, or the more recent eco halo stuff, probably rated at 400 W?

  • 0
  • Inquirer
  • Posted

    Thanks! In fact it's 30 lights with 15w each. It's really strong on 100% so I guess 50% would work just fine.

    Is it a good assumption that 50% dimming is then equal to 225w then?

    • 0
    Posted

    Sorry for the delay... I knew someone talked about a large number of lamps (what I would call a large number of bulbs) but I couldn't find it. But I suddenly remembered the magic search phrase. So here's the topic:

    Please login or register to see this link.

    Short version: 23 lamps of 6 Watt is about 140 W so below the Dimmer 2 maximum. But the OP says he needs to increase brightness gradually or the dimmer switches itself off. He points out that Dimmer 1 did not have problems but that's because the older dimmer did not have the same level of protection... A theory goes that it has to do with the kind of power supply (and EMI filtering) that is in the led, and we can't know that (without specialized testing).

    All I want to say is... there may be issues... "To Be Tested".

    • 0
  • Inquirer
  • Posted

    Now I do not use LED lights in my chandelier so I guess this start current is not applicable.  

     

    - Is it realistic to think that max to 50% on the dimmer would solve the issue?

    • 0
    Posted

    This topic intrigued me so much that I decided to make a test setup:

    - HC2 V 4.082

    - FGD-212 V 3.0

    - Halogen 500 W (specified) - measured 460 W at 230 V.

    First, I tried 2-wire setup, but I had issues getting the device 100% configured. In hindsight, I should probably have tried with only the bypass and no load (to get everything configured), but I abandoned this setup in favor of the 3-wire setup.

    It is clear that the dimmer calibrates the lamp to 100% = 460 W. The dimmer is capable of doing that because it is only a short time overload.

    So without any adjustment, trying to switch on the halogen results in a message: "Overload Detected".

    Setting parameter 1 to 50 did not reduce the power output to 50%. Instead, I got 350 W and while it may be possible to switch on the lamp, it will turn off after a few seconds (same "Overload Detected").

    Setting it to 40 get's us closer: 260 W. But the dimmer's response is the same. The current measuring device is accurate

    Please login or register to see this image.

    /emoticons/default_icon_wink.gif" alt=";-)" />

    I thing setting p1 to 35 get's us close enough to working system... 216 W and I can dim up and down freely... BUT! During all my testing another error cropped up a few times: "Overcurrent detection". It was almost 100% reproducible: let the lamp cool for one minute than turn on (100%) and nothing happens, except the message "Overcurrent detected".

    It may work more reliably if you further reduce p1 but I don't know.

    • 0
    Posted

    There is one parameter that influences the startup of halogen lamps You can set p 34 to "2 - long soft-start (0,5s)". I did a quick check and I think it is better than the default (but I'm out of time so I could only do +/- 5 cold start attempts).

    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

    Guest
    Answer this question...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

    ×
    ×
    • Create New...