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joemcd121

Hi guys,

Okay admittedly I'm no electrician - I'm a student, with a very awkward letting agency! I have complained about a fault with the lights in one of the bedrooms in the house for a while now.

Basically, there are 6 GU10 spotlights, operated by a dimmer switch. They don't seem to to work together at the same time though - I have replaced 2 duff bulbs recently, so that all 6 bulbs are operational - but a day or so after doing so, one of the bulbs literally blew - I actually witnessed it getting brighter/turning red and then it blew and the glass has cracked on the spotlight.

So it tripped the switch in the power box, I switched it back on - and the lights in the bedroom work, but the dimmer switch doesn't - it switches the lights on and off no problem, but it doesn't dim the lights.

I have had a similar problem before when replacing one of the bulbs led to the power being tripped, but when I switched it back on - none of the lights would work. An electrician came round and replaced the dimmer switch with a new one, and it worked then.

Any ideas what might be causing this problem? And do I need to get an electrician out - or is there something I can do which wouldn't be too advanced?


Cheers,


- Joe
 
and me !
is the dimmer overloaded ? can we have its rating please

just checked gu 10 halogens are dimmable gu10 leds arent (i know this is obvious to most)
 
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GU10 are dimmable...but are really rubbish and blow so much more frquently.
best advice is change the GU10's for LV 50W and bang some transformers up there...but check the dimmer can handle the load first..
:)
 
Hi
Im not sure where you guys are getting your info ,i didnt know the answer so i looked it up .try it , every site i looked at says Gu10s are NOT DIMMABLE it could be that they will dim but from what i can discover there not made to ,
 
DIYnot.com > Wiki > Electrics > Lighting > Lamps > Gu10
as you see above the regualer GU10's can be dimmed...although they are shoddy when compared to goold ole 12v 50w transformer halogens..

Scroll to the bottom for the table!


thanks ,
i didnt know anything about these lamps before ,its quite confusing at first ,so yes hallogen lamps can be dimmed ,leds cant ,and cfls cant ,unless its a special one made by megaman and they all fit in the same lamp holder,not a brill design. is it ?

so matey who started the post ,must have replaced standard hallogens with leds or gfls.

thanks for your help rabec
 
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thanks ,
i didnt know anything about these lamps before ,its quite confusing at first ,so yes hallogen lamps can be dimmed ,leds cant ,and cfls cant ,unless its a special one made by megaman and they all fit in the same lamp holder,not a brill design. is it ?

so matey who started the post ,must have replaced standard hallogens with leds or gfls.

thanks for your help rabec

i have amended the earlier post and hopefully the above is correct now:D

thanks to grae ,rabec and wayne, we have a solution:)
 
LED's CAN be dimmed!

I am just designing a sytem of dimmable, light changing LED downlighters that run off a remote switch and remote control. You basically have a controller running the LEDs, this controls the dimming and colour output
 
so now we've established EVERYTHING can be dimmed! :D even the apprentice, tho they tend to be quite dim at times anyway. ;)
 
Thanks for all your replies guys, glad it 'sparked' some debate!

I didn't think there would be any problem with dimming the GU10's, as not had any problems originally when I moved in and took over the tenancy from previous tenants who had left GU10's installed.

Plus there are GU10 spotlights all over the house - and this problem isn't replicated anywhere else, and I believe the same dimmer switches are installed in each room.

We've got an electrician coming now tomorrow, the letting agency has got their act together - so will find out what the problem is, and get back to you guys to satisfy curiousity.

Thanks for all your input! :)
 
Hi guys,

Okay admittedly I'm no electrician - I'm a student, with a very awkward letting agency! I have complained about a fault with the lights in one of the bedrooms in the house for a while now.

Basically, there are 6 GU10 spotlights, operated by a dimmer switch. They don't seem to to work together at the same time though - I have replaced 2 duff bulbs recently, so that all 6 bulbs are operational - but a day or so after doing so, one of the bulbs literally blew - I actually witnessed it getting brighter/turning red and then it blew and the glass has cracked on the spotlight.

So it tripped the switch in the power box, I switched it back on - and the lights in the bedroom work, but the dimmer switch doesn't - it switches the lights on and off no problem, but it doesn't dim the lights.

I have had a similar problem before when replacing one of the bulbs led to the power being tripped, but when I switched it back on - none of the lights would work. An electrician came round and replaced the dimmer switch with a new one, and it worked then.

Any ideas what might be causing this problem? And do I need to get an electrician out - or is there something I can do which wouldn't be too advanced?


Cheers,


- Joe
Joe, firstly GU10 lamps are dimmable. secondly GU10 lamps are available in 50 watt and 35 watt so check each lamp because you need to know the total wattage i.e. 6 x 50 watts = 300 watts 6 x 35 watts = 210 watts. etc... this is important because the dimmer switches are available in two sizes which are 250 watts and 400 watts.
So if your dimmer was a 250 watt type and the total wattage of the lamps was 250 or more it will eventually pack up and not dim.
My advice is to fit a 400 watt dimmer change the lamps to 35 watt so the load is not so high. Unfortunately 90 times out of 100 the MCB (fuse) will trip when the lamps blow.
good luck hope this has helped.

Hi guys,

Okay admittedly I'm no electrician - I'm a student, with a very awkward letting agency! I have complained about a fault with the lights in one of the bedrooms in the house for a while now.

Basically, there are 6 GU10 spotlights, operated by a dimmer switch. They don't seem to to work together at the same time though - I have replaced 2 duff bulbs recently, so that all 6 bulbs are operational - but a day or so after doing so, one of the bulbs literally blew - I actually witnessed it getting brighter/turning red and then it blew and the glass has cracked on the spotlight.

So it tripped the switch in the power box, I switched it back on - and the lights in the bedroom work, but the dimmer switch doesn't - it switches the lights on and off no problem, but it doesn't dim the lights.

I have had a similar problem before when replacing one of the bulbs led to the power being tripped, but when I switched it back on - none of the lights would work. An electrician came round and replaced the dimmer switch with a new one, and it worked then.

Any ideas what might be causing this problem? And do I need to get an electrician out - or is there something I can do which wouldn't be too advanced?


Cheers,


- Joe
Joe, firstly GU10 lamps are dimmable. secondly GU10 lamps are available in 50 watt and 35 watt so check each lamp because you need to know the total wattage i.e. 6 x 50 watts = 300 watts 6 x 35 watts = 210 watts. etc... this is important because the dimmer switches are available in two sizes which are 250 watts and 400 watts.
So if your dimmer was a 250 watt type and the total wattage of the lamps was 250 or more it will eventually pack up and not dim.
My advice is to fit a 400 watt dimmer change the lamps to 35 watt so the load is not so high. Unfortunately 90 times out of 100 the MCB (fuse) will trip when the lamps blow.
good luck hope this has helped.
 
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Hi all,

While on the subject what's the highest rated dimmer available? I'm looking to dim 10 GU10s currently at 50w a piece. Even if I downgrade to 35w I'm still loking at 350w and don't want to overload the dimmer.

That answers my question electrotec :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You can have some fun with GU10's. Not sure of the rating of your dimmer, but based on the lamps blowing I would suggest checking the connections at each light fitting for loose connections.

Loose connections can be a common problem for lamps blowing. Loose connections will draw more ampage and heat at the connection points (your light fiitings) and will eventually if not immediately blow lamps. If the circuit draws more current due to loose connections, this could also explain your dimmer overload?
 

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