ALC startup questions

[rbroders]

All of the ALC LOAD switches have neutrals. You can see them in the picture attached to Post #1. Green GND, Black HOT, White NEUTRAL, Blue LOAD, and of course the little wires in heat shrink connect to the yellow CAT5 for network&AUX control.

I can only think some strange interaction with the TRIAC circuit causes a leakage current which normally doesn't do anything, but for some reason causes the LED Ropelights to glow...

I'm not looking forward to telling the electrician to change out the dimmers for switches...

--Bob

 

[klindy]

The AUX eventually gave good readings, but the switch needed to be pressed very hard. My electrician figured out how to remove the toggle plate and re-align the springs, and that seemed to help quite a bit.

One thing we noticed is that the dimmer switches have an extra off position. If you press really hard on the bottom of the switch, the button depresses slightly, and sticks there. I believe that this creates an "air gap" which completely kills the circuit and makes the light fixtures safe for bulb replacement...

Speaking of off behavior, I have a couple of LED ropelights which are connected to ALC Dimmers (by mistake, the ropelights are not very bright), and I noticed that the ropelights are on about 30% even when the ALC dimmer switches are OFF! Has anyone else noticed this behavior?

--Bob

Bob,

I have a couple ropelights also hooked to dimmers but I can't get them to turn on at all. I swapped switches once and that didnt help. I'm going to swap them once more before I give up and try a relay switch.

I did see somewhere in the manual where you can add a simple incandesant light/bulb in the circuit to test the 'dimability'. Since my ropelights are plugged into hidden recessed outlets (which are switched) I was going to try that before I went too far.

Note that I don't have any switches currently attached to hubs or controllers, etc. I'm simply using the switches as if they were conventional dimmers. It's too hot in the attic to finish the connections currently.

Keith

 

[felixrosbergen]

Swapping out a dimmer for a switch is a pretty easy task...I don't want to be the one to recommend you start messing with your electrical install if you're not comfortable with it. But if you're into HA you're probably fairly technical and it shouldn't really be an issue.

Especially if you're swapping a dimmer for a switch there is not much doubt as to which wires to use...the switch and dimmers have the same wiring so just swap it out one for one...ofcourse with the breakers off.

 

[rbroders]

Quick update: most of my switches are working as stand-alone or aux switches. A few were bad and have been replaced. Still waiting for some relays to replace dimmers (for the ropelights and also some exterior lights which code requries to be fluorescent).

As for automation, I purchased a copy of SceneTech, and have been struggling with it for the last few days. This is a very stale program. The installer failed on all computers I tried it on. I think it was developed using Visual Basic, and Microsoft has obsoleted its interfaces due to security problems. I eventually got it partially running on a very old XP notebook.

SceneTech was able to talk to my HLC, but couldn't see any of my switches. I even direct wired a single switch, but that didn't work either (does the switch need AC power to talk to the controller?). I was just about to give up when I wired the HLC to my last hub (which only has 4 switches on it). To my surprise it discovered two of the switches! It even detected a problem with one of the switches (the paddle was stuck in the off position). After removing the paddle, I was able to control the switch! Unbelievable. Hopefully fixing the other 98 switches won't be as hard. Maybe I should have gotten the enhanced hubs...

--Bob

 

[beelzerob]

I'm *PRETTY* sure that the switches need AC to be able to communicate. I don't think they get their commuication power off the ALC control lines...though I could be wrong. I'll have to check that sometime.

 

[edge]

The branch interface provides the 4 volts for polling. AC power to the switch is still needed.