ceb58
Senior Member
- Location
- Raeford, NC
Quick question. when you remove the fins from a dimmer what % of the rated wattage do you derate?
Why? ?mdshunk said:Most of the time it's stamped right on the dimmer's metal part. I think a 600 becomes a 400 with one side nipped off, and a 300 with both sides nipped off. I bet it varies somewhat from manufacturer to manufacturer. I use Lutron, most of the time.
:grin: :grin:cadpoint said:Why? ?
I've never heard of this!
Something I had to do just two days ago.mdshunk said::grin: :grin:
You need to break off one or both sides if you're installing most brands of dimmers in a ganged box with other dimmers or other "wide" devices. That's something to keep in mind when you're roughing in a house. If you NEED a 1000 watt capability, it might be best to have that dimmer in a box by itself off to the side a bit.
mdshunk said:I'm curious to know what brand you found that makes a 1500 watt rated dimmer that has fins you can break off to gang them? Bigger than 1000W, I'm only familiar with the "heat sink" type, that you have to mount in a box by itself.
dang you beat me to it.was going to ask the same thingmdshunk said:I'm curious to know what brand you found that makes a 1500 watt rated dimmer that has fins you can break off to gang them? Bigger than 1000W, I'm only familiar with the "heat sink" type, that you have to mount in a box by itself.
Maybe at your church, but I find that dimmers to be a standard feature in most churches that I wire or do work in. Special services, like weddings, often have the lighting at different levels. The last church I wired had a 20,000 dollar theatrical type dimmer rack that was controlled by features of the mixing board in the sound room. I'm pretty sure they didn't spend those shekels if they weren't going to dim the lighting.goldstar said:I don't know that you'll be able to convince your church council to abandon the dimmer idea but sooner or later (especially after you start billing them for replacements) they'll come to the realization that dimmers in churches are a waste of $$.
You should consider replacing this 3-gang box with three 2-gang boxes; then fitting adequate dimmers won't be a problem, and they'll run cooler.ceb58 said:I have all three ganged in one box. I am not going to eat these dimmers and replace with 2000 watt, I will probably replace lamps with 65 watt and they can be happy.