C4 - Dimmers vs Switches

[Rocketscience]

Hi All

I am putting in a C4 system to control my lighting and distributed AV, most probably using the HC-500 - this will control about 76 switches/dimmers.

My questions is should I just put in dimmers throughout (they're the same price) as I understand you can go "all off/100% on" by just tapping the dimmer switch or should I put in the regular switches where I will not need dimming. My thinking is if the dimmers are the same price and will work the same way why not just put them in and at least have the option of dimming or are there some disadvantages to using dimmers as a regular switch - speed, response, etc?

I hope this makes sense. Any advice is most grateful.

Thanks

[henniae]

The C4 switches are not rated for incandescent light. This is stated in the documentation of the switch. The reason they are not rated for incandescent is that the switches use a relay to control the electrical current and the dimmers us a triac. The problem with using a C4 switch to control an incandescent light is the inrush current that an incandescent draws when it is switched on. This inrush current is larger than the current rating of the relay in the C4 switch. Use dimmers for incandescent lights and switches for most florescent lights and motors. There was a thread on this in the list.

[henniae]

I found the post.

http://www.c4forums.com/viewtopic.php?id=1478

[Rocketscience]

Hi Alan

Thank you very much for that forum post link - it was most helpful. So it's dimmers throughout then for me.

Thanks

Manny