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Thread: Dimmer and relay issue

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    Dimmer and relay issue

    I purchased an bell press dimmer for

    6 x 6 watt led lights ... made sure the led lights had dimmable drivers.

    Connected the dimmer and lights and it worked ... no flickering ... everything work great.

    I completed the project ... a whole lot of lights and dimmers and isolators and bell press switches etc etc etc.

    Everything seems to work great until I started switching off the relay (hager 25 amp din mount ES225)

    As I switch off the switch for the ES225 click all the led lights connected to the dimmer module switch off.

    I stripped and checked all my wiring ... thought it might be a lost neutral.

    Contacted a few people to see if anyone lese has exprienced this issue ... it turns out it is a common problem with inductive loads ... like fan selector switches and relays and contactors.

    Time to fit caps across the inductive loads.

    Anyone else experienced this problem.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  2. #2
    Diamond Member Justloadit's Avatar
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    Aaaah science at work, inductive loads and back EMF. Unabated, inductive loads create spikes of hundreds of volts, and this sharp voltage rise in time destroys the cheapie LED lights which use capacitors as part of the current limiting circuit.

    The expensive contactors have a built in suitable capacitor across the coil to reduce the back EMF.
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