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Fibaro dimmer 2


KristianO

Question

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.

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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?

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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.

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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!

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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?

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  • Inquirer
  • 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?

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    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:

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    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".

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  • Inquirer
  • 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?

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    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

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    /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.

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    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).

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