YIKES!!!

[DEGoodrich]

Has anyone seen this happen before!

 

I went into the bathroom (where there are 3 recessed 65watt lights) and I double pressed the upper paddle to turn the lights "fast on" (I was in a big hurry) (no further explination needed).

All three light bulbs blew out.

I replced the bulbs.

Now the lights stay on at 100%.

The Switchlink Dimmer communicates fine, and the LED's go up and down properly, but the lights do not change.

[Brian H]

The surge of all three bulbs burning out [what luck] may have damaged the switch and shorted the triac. I would first try a factory reset.

 

In X10 land we see the LM15A Socket Rockets fail when a bulb blows; with the exact symptoms. Always ON.

[Sub-Routine]

I have a SwitchLinc like that but without any bulb failures. It didn't make 24 hours of use.

 

Rand

[rowland]

Is it possible that the three bulbs burning out simultaneously is a symptom instead of the cause? The probability of three bulbs burning out simultaneously seems awfully low. Are these fixtures on the same switch with a motor like a bathroom heater/fan?

[Brian H]

Rand; Some feature?

[Sub-Routine]

Rand; Some feature?

• It's a No Load switch for n-ways.
  It's a Training Switch.
  It's a trick switch for your mother-in-law's birthday.

[DEGoodrich]

Rand; Some feature?

• It's a No Load switch for n-ways.
  It's a Training Switch.
  It's a trick switch for your mother-in-law's birthday.

 

Actually, that is a very good idea!

I was going to toss it.

Instead, I just sapped it with one of my 3-ways.

Thanks, you saved me 50 bucks!

[DEGoodrich]

Here is the only logical explination I could come up with:

You know bulbs usually burn out wheh you turn them on?

My lights never are turned on fast. I have them all set for 2s ramp.

I have noticed that I have not had any bulbs burn out since I have been using ramps. So, to test my theory, I went to "My Netork" page and clicked the all on button. 4 more bulbs blew out in different parts of the house.

 

Why the switch failed, I don't know.

[rowland]

Here is the only logical explination I could come up with:

You know bulbs usually burn out wheh you turn them on?

My lights never are turned on fast. I have them all set for 2s ramp.

I have noticed that I have not had any bulbs burn out since I have been using ramps. So, to test my theory, I went to "My Netork" page and clicked the all on button. 4 more bulbs blew out in different parts of the house.

 

Why the switch failed, I don't know.

 

You're right, incandescent bulbs burn out when they are turned on because the resistance of the bulb is much lower when it is cold. Generally, the initial current flow is 10 to 15 times that when the bulb is warmed up (after about .10 seconds).

 

But, I don't get why you have a MUCH higher burn out rate. Usually, one burnout/month is typical in a house with mechanical switches. It's almost as if something in your house causes a voltage spike when you turn on a light. Either that, or your brand of bulb isn't built to withstand very many off-on cycles and you're mitigating that with the 2s ramp rate.

[Sub-Routine]

Now is the time of year for bulbs to end their lives. We use more lights longer because the days are shortest. I have probably replaced 10 bulbs in the last two weeks.

 

With the processes we have to produce light bulbs today every similar bulb will will have a similar life under similar conditions. So they should all be burning out at the same time

 

Most bulbs are rated for 1000 hours. That is 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year. Bulbs with longer life have less light output per watt. Bulbs that are dimmed will have longer life. Long ramp rates appear to extend bulb life here.

 

But it is still every winter when many bulbs burn out because they are used more. And it's always the beginning of winter because those bulbs came so close to ending their lives last year.

 

During the summer bulbs almost never fail because we don't use them!

 

If you keep track like commercial buildings do you would be changing out bulbs two weeks before they fail.

 

Rand

[Sub-Routine]

• It's a No Load switch for n-ways.
  It's a Training Switch.
  It's a trick switch for your mother-in-law's birthday.

 

Actually, that is a very good idea!

I was going to toss it.

Instead, I just sapped it with one of my 3-ways.

Thanks, you saved me 50 bucks!

 

Excellent!

[rowland]

Now is the time of year for bulbs to end their lives. We use more lights longer because the days are shortest. I have probably replaced 10 bulbs in the last two weeks.

 

 

This is subjective, of course, but it's been at least a month since I changed a bulb, probably longer. This includes a house I'm building (loaded with Insteon stuff, of course) that has it's lights turned on and off constantly in an attempt to save energy. I can't believe I change more than 5 bulbs in a year, probably more like 2 or 3.

 

I still maintain that to have 4 burn out at once is abnormal.

 

It may be that by having a 2s ramp DEGoodrich has a house full of well cared for bulbs that have lived a long life and are fragile in their old age. Shocking them with a fast turn on finally does some of them in. There are are other explanations, but this one has that ring-of-truth to it.

[MikeB]

My bulbs seem to last an extremely long time. I've set them all up with, at minimum, a .5 second ramp rate. They're also set to come on at 90% brightness.

[yardman 49]

 

 

I still maintain that to have 4 burn out at once is abnormal.

 

It may be that by having a 2s ramp DEGoodrich has a house full of well cared for bulbs that have lived a long life and are fragile in their old age. Shocking them with a fast turn on finally does some of them in. There are are other explanations, but this one has that ring-of-truth to it.

 

Hello Rowland:

 

That is an excellent analysis! I thought that maybe DE was buying all of his bulbs from some overseas discounter!

 

I know that when I moved into my house a few years back, the builder's electrician had put in very cheap bulbs. My rate of failure was quite high.

 

But even given your explanation, to have all the bulbs on one switch fail at once is very unlikely, unless the switch itself is causing a problem. And for 4 bulbs to fail from an "All on" is almost as improbable (unless you're turning on 1000 bulbs at once).

 

__________________________________________________________________

 

 

DEGoodrich:

 

Have you ever checked the line voltages in your house? You should check from hot to neutral, hot to ground, and neutral ot ground. Maybe you have a poor neutral connection somewhere.

 

Quite a few years ago in my parent's house, the neutral coming from the utility's tranformer broke. As a result, when some devices were turned on in the house, they completed a virtual 240v loop, thereby frying several appliances.

 

This is just a wild guess on my part, and probably has no bearing on your situation. But I also encountered a situation in my work where I was installing some laboratory equipment. The lab had a whole-room UPS hooked up. Prior to installing the equipment, I checked the line voltages. If found that the neutral and ground had a 20 volt AC difference between them! The ground was "floating". It turned out that the UPS installer had not connected a required buss bar on the UPS.

 

I've always checked hot-neutral-ground when installing anything. But after that experience, I'm even more cautious.

 

Best wishes,

[rowland]

__________________________________________________________________

 

 

DEGoodrich:

 

Have you ever checked the line voltages in your house? You should check from hot to neutral, hot to ground, and neutral ot ground. Maybe you have a poor neutral connection somewhere.

 

Quite a few years ago in my parent's house, the neutral coming from the utility's tranformer broke. As a result, when some devices were turned on in the house, they completed a virtual 240v loop, thereby frying several appliances.

 

This is just a wild guess on my part, and probably has no bearing on your situation. But I also encountered a situation in my work where I was installing some laboratory equipment. The lab had a whole-room UPS hooked up. Prior to installing the equipment, I checked the line voltages. If found that the neutral and ground had a 20 volt AC difference between them! The ground was "floating". It turned out that the UPS installer had not connected a required buss bar on the UPS.

 

I've always checked hot-neutral-ground when installing anything. But after that experience, I'm even more cautious.

 

Best wishes,

 

Another wild guess is if DEGoodrich has a grid tie system where generated electricity is fed back to the grid through an inverter. A malfunctioning, or improperly installed (e.g. bad ground connection somewhere) inverter could result in poor voltage regulation, i.e. an overshoot on voltage when a lot of current is called for.

[Brian H]

DEGoodrich; I know someone that lost a Neutral and had one heck of a load of burned out devices and light bulbs. Fried TV anyone?