Quinetic switches breaking

[AndyTu]

Hi,

I had some Quinetic switches installed today. Most of them are fine, one of them is not.

I have a light in each of my kitchen and dining room. My electrician replaced each of the one-gang switches with one-gang inline receiver switches (QURS1W).

The dining room switch works fine. The kitchen one failed immediately on trying to pair it - although it worked before holding it down to pair, it simply stopped switching at all after I tried to pair with another switch.

I took the unit back to TLC and got a replacement (the guy behind the counter muttering they don't usually fail).... But the replacement did exactly the same

The electrician (who had never worked with Quinetic switches before) was baffled. He did... something, neither of us is quite sure what, and it started working again. But then it stopped working again after he had gone. I'll get him back to fix it, I'm just trying to investigate.

The switch only has a single cable coming into it; and as far as I can see, it is wired up correctly (it's a pre-2004 cable, with red going into L and black going into L1... My very limited understanding of electrics says that this isn't a real neutral, but it's just taking the live back to the ceiling rose).

I'm not really sure what's going on: has anybody else experienced this? I can't believe it's a dodgy batch of switches, and I got unlucky twice.

Thanks.

 

[littlespark]

Yes… red and black at a switch is live and switched live…. Unless they’ve been changed at the room ceiling rose and been put in live and neutral.

 

[AndyTu]

The old regular switch worked fine though... Wouldn't "been put in live and neutral" mean the switch would have simply been joining live to neutral, bypassing the bulb?

 

[AndyTu]

The old regular switch worked fine though... Wouldn't "been put in live and neutral" mean the switch would have simply been joining live to neutral, bypassing the bulb?

Oh that's interesting, on a whim a switched the downstairs lighting circuit off and on again, now it works again.

I turned it off and on a few times, all seemed fine... Then it stopped working again. Once again turning the circuit off and on again got it working.

I say "interesting", but I have no idea how to process this information.

 

[littlespark]

Ah right. I just checked. They are a straight swap for a switch, it only uses a live and switchwire.
It may be that it needs a filament lamp to create a small return path to power the receiver… an led or fluorescent light fitting won’t allow it to work.
In the rooms that are working, what sort of bulbs are they?

 

[AndyTu]

Ah right. I just checked. They are a straight swap for a switch, it only uses a live and switchwire.
It may be that it needs a filament lamp to create a small return path to power the receiver… an led or fluorescent light fitting won’t allow it to work.
In the rooms that are working, what sort of bulbs are they?

The dining room has an LED incadendescent-like bayonet bulb in it.

The kitchen has 4 LED GU50 bulbs in it.

I replaced one of the LED GU50s with a halogen GU50 and it started working straight away.

The mind boggles as to how I ended up in this corner case, but it seems like the bulbs are the cause.

Thanks!

 

[Mike Johnson]

If the receiver/switch works the same was as a separate receiver and switch, then the switch requires a permanent live and neutral to keep the receiver operating and the old existing wires to the lights, unless I have completely miss-understood the problem, would not be the first time. ?. But then I don't know what a GU50 is either?

 

[littlespark]

I checked the model number as stated on the OP, Mike, and it shows live and switch wire, no neutral.

as with a lot of smart and remote switches without neutrals, they need something to create the return path to power the receiver.

(I think he meant a GU10)?

 

[AndyTu]

I checked the model number as stated on the OP, Mike, and it shows live and switch wire, no neutral.

as with a lot of smart and remote switches without neutrals, they need something to create the return path to power the receiver.

(I think he meant a GU10)?

Yep, GU10.

 

[telectrix]

am i missing something here. quinetic switches are wireless with receiver at the light, no?

 

[timhoward]

am i missing something here. quinetic switches are wireless with receiver at the light, no?

This is a new product that I’ve only just become aware of, idea is you simply swap a light switch with this gadget that is a switch and receiver for more switches.
As above it doesn’t need a neutral.

 

[timhoward]

Quinetic 1 Gang Wireless Switch c/w Built In Receiver - White | Quinetic (QURS1W)

 

[AndyTu]

This is a new product that I’ve only just become aware of, idea is you simply swap a light switch with this gadget that is a switch and receiver for more switches.
As above it doesn’t need a neutral.

Yeah, they are just drop-in replacements for switches

My wife wouldn't have let me put them in if the receiver wasn't easily accessible to re-pair.

Now we've worked this issue out I'm really pleased with them. 3 separate multi-switching "annoyances" sorted out with no wiring. I know I'm late to this party, but woo!

The only thing I don't like about the inline switches is that they have a very different mechanical feel to the "normal" switches - they are very gentle, and don't have the click, presumably because they don't need the mechanism to generate the KE. It would be nicer if inline and normal switches next to each other were consistent in their feel, but I can live with it.

 

[Mike Johnson]

The only thing I don't like about the inline switches is that they have a very different mechanical feel to the "normal" switches - they are very gentle, and don't have the click, presumably because they don't need the mechanism to generate the KE. It would be nicer if inline and normal switches next to each other were consistent in their feel, but I can live with it.

I see that as a bonus, the separate switches have a very clunky switch action that is very different to everything else, presumably to operate the power generator and signal as you say.