neveraging Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 I am trying to determine the root cause of a sudden problem at a light coming off a C4-DIM1-Z. Basically we had some electric work done at the breaker box and since then I have noticed the lights in one room were dimmer than I thought they should be. Sure enough, I checked with a voltmeter and it registers 80V at the bulb socket (I have not yet checked the line-in as it would require another layer of unscrewing). I am not sure if this started when the breaker was modified, or not.Basically, I am trying to ascertain if these dimmer switches have ever failed in the form of maxing out at <120V without unwiring the units. Of if there would be some weird problem at the breaker box. thoughts?thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Unfortunately, without testing what the input to the dimmer is, there's not any way to tell if it's a dimmer fault or not. That said, there *is* a software setting to change the dimmer's maximum output, and if it were set to 60% or something around there, you'd likely get dimmer output. RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 It's likely a weird problem either way, but you'll be stuck unscrewing the dimmer to check the line in to know where the weirdness is at Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 ^^^ I don't what you mean by "breaker modified" but any change upward from the orig. rating is potentially dangerous and tandems are illegal. What was actually done? BTW, I've power-cycled hundreds of C4 dimmers and never had a case where it took on a personality like that. Taking the unit out is all of one minute. Call your electrician back if you don't want to DIY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neveraging Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 ^^^ I don't what you mean by "breaker modified" but any change upward from the orig. rating is potentially dangerous and tandems are illegal. What was actually done? BTW, I've power-cycled hundreds of C4 dimmers and never had a case where it took on a personality like that. Taking the unit out is all of one minute. Call your electrician back if you don't want to DIY. Thanks C4UserGuy.by breaker modified, I mean the box was replaced with a larger one and a number of the breakers were consolidated, nothing where I could imaging impacting the functioning at the switch level. The crummy thing being that the 'electrician' did not re-label the breakers, so I don't know which one to switch off to start really digging and DYI (of course I plan to get around to this, but it helps to have a partner and the wife is overly pregnant....) ANYWAY, I unscrewed the wire caps and I've got 120 going in which would seem to say the dimmer is upper-limiting to 80V new thoughts? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 No, I was with Ryan all along- check the max setpoint in CHE. However, even if it mysteriously changed on you, you can always push & hold the top button to override that setting. One thing I was thinking about, and reason why I asked about the nature of the work, was overheating of the device. All your tabs in place? I'm crap-shooting here due to not having experience with that problem. Switches are a different story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Note that if the MAX value is set to a lower percentage, no pushing the top will get it past that, only if the DEFAULT is set lower.Of course question is how that would change by itself. Lower output is possible if too many lights etc are tied into a single breaker/too much length but nothing too crazy, plus if you get proper voltage at the dimmer location... Overheating is possible, but anything that would cause a major drop should be quite noticeable on the dimmer itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 ^Right, I had to look in CHE to see what the entry name was. PRESET is what I meant. Last time I had a switch go bad, I was give 2 seconds to fix the problem or else. Since then, I keep spares on the shelf here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neveraging Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 "check the max setpoint in CHE." I have to admit I don't know what this is. I bought our house 2 years ago and the Control4 was installed, but not actively subscribed (and never did, it's a very small house to bother automating). Is this the iPad app? Is it something I need to buy to make this work? I'm thinking I might just put a $2 switch in instead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 ^Any tailoring of the dimmer would have to be done using Composer yourself or hiring a dealer to do it either onsite or remotely. The setting we're talking about is Max On Level (%) under Load Profile for that unit. It's a long shot but not out of possibility the setting has somehow changed. You can replace with a regular switch, sure, but why not just try another C4 dimmer from another location and see what happens? Just don't leave it there if the replacement one has a problem on that circuit too. Kinda sounds like don't have a dealer that's why I suggest this potentially sacrificial method... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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