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C4 dimmer life expectancy


Cooper27

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13 minutes ago, Cooper27 said:

I am new to control4 and starting to expand my current system. Prior to buying several dozen switches, dimmers and key pads I was wondering what the expected service life of a C4 brand switch will be.

I wouldn't be able to tell you for sure but I know of a couple homes still using 1st generation Control4 dimmers/switches/keypads originally installed 10 years ago.  The newer 3rd gen are much better but they were released some time in 2013.  Time will tell.

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All new Control4 equipment comes with a 2-year warranty, which if you're familiar with the failure rate curve for electronics, which is shaped roughly like the outline of a bathtub, with more failures early and very late, takes out the 'front end' of the bathtub.

After the first 2 years, it's unlikely to fail for many years.

The failure rate on Control4 current-generation dimmers is extremely low.

In my house, I had a couple of devices (I think it was one dimmer and one switch) fail in the first year or so, but they were all the original Gen1 devices.  Other than those, I don't think I've had any of my dimmers fail, and I have around 100 of them, most of which are still original Gen1 dimmers, and they've been installed and working daily for 12+ years.

The original Gen1 switches (less so the dimmers) tend to get a bit mechanically 'mushy' after 10 years of daily use, but they still work.  A handful of those in my house have now been replaced by Gen3 Fan Speed Controllers.

Like anything, they can wear out, but they're not as likely to electronically fail.

RyanE

 

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I guess that I have had 100 or more gen 3 switches, dimmers and keypads in my house since 2013 (may even be 150 - I used to know and am too lazy to count again). One stopped working at some stage early on and was replaced. One dimmer fried due to a lightening strike (I think) and we moved it to another spot in the house where it is still in use as a keypad although it no longer works as a dimmer.

Overall,  very reliable in my experience.

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Controllers only become obsolete if you want to keep up with the latest OS release.

Other than a bad batch of power supplies quite a while back, controllers should also last quite a while.

They go obsolete because new OS features require newer, faster hardware.  Such is life.

RyanE

 

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