Does anybody know the minimum wattage of a QLD

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  • westernm
    Automated Home Jr Member
    • Apr 2008
    • 22

    Does anybody know the minimum wattage of a QLD

    Hi All,

    Over the weekend I added two sets of Ikea BÄVE LED Track Lights to a QLD channel. See link:BAVE.
    The problem is that when they are turned off they continue to flicker.
    These are the only lights on this channel, however when they are added to another channel which has 3 x 45W standard bulbs they don't flicker when turned off.
    Now I am assuming that this is because the Bave lights do not present enough resistance to the circuit to properly turn off.
    The info on the web site states that these lights use 8.5W each so 17W in total.

    I'm thinking I either have to
    1) Add them to the other channel mentioned earlier (but then loose the ability to set up the scenes I was aiming for) or
    2) Increase the resistance of the load on this circuit.

    I would prefer option 2 but am unsure what would be the best way to add the extra 'ballast'. I have done some digging around and found the following options.
    a) I could add a standard bulb to the circuit (increasing the wattage) but this would be difficult to fit into the room as the light tracks in question are
    placed on open beams in an attic room and don't really lend themselves to extra fittings.
    b) I could place a resistor across the Live and neutral terminals for the channel on the QLD. But for this what size resistor would be needed?

    Any advice would be appreciated

    Thanks

    Mark
  • Karam
    Automated Home Legend
    • Mar 2005
    • 863

    #2
    LEDs don't present a resistive load. They are more like a switch mode power supply. On a resistive load the QLDs can go pretty much down to zero load since the original firmware drove the triac gates at all times. However its not about minimum load but more to do with the complex nature of the load perhaps messing up the natural zero crossing switch off, or alternatively the QLD filter capacitors leaking enough current to turn on the lamp. We have had examples of single lamps at 4-5w which worked fine so basically depends on the lamp. Most LED lamps will suddenly lose any issues if operated in parallel with a resistive load. So you will find 3rd party devices called 'resloads' if you search around. Typically this is a 10W resistive load on some kind of heatsink. Or you could even use a 10W incandescent lamp if you could lose the light from it somewhere. Its not an ideal solution but does seem to get rid of problems. On the other hand send me a profile dump for your QLD and I can look to see if we might have different firmware you could try.

    Comment

    • westernm
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Apr 2008
      • 22

      #3
      Thanks Karam,

      I will send you a profile dump on Friday when I get home, and in the meantime I will look into the resloads and the possibility of an additional bulb on the circuit.

      Cheers

      Mark

      Comment

      • Karam
        Automated Home Legend
        • Mar 2005
        • 863

        #4
        Other option if they don't use special lamps is try other lamp brands

        Comment

        • Nad
          Automated Home Guru
          • Jul 2008
          • 145

          #5
          I thought I'd share what I've found too ...

          I have a number of circuits on QLDs and they all run Philips LEDs. However I have 2 types of Philips LEDs as the original 6w master series which I had bought were discontinued and all the additional bulbs I bought were the newer 4.3w ones (I think this is actually 2 generations newer than the original ones I got).

          I have QLD channels with just 3 of the older ones on and have no issues with them flickering or turning off, the dimming profile needs to be updated (Karam sent me the newer firmware, but I've not installed it yet) but besides that they work wonderfully well. However, the newer bulbs are far more troublesome. Even with 10 of them on a single channel one of the bulbs will remain on very very dimly unless I put an incandescent bulb in parallel. I stuck to Philips as they performed the best when I tested them, and from a light output and quality performance I still think they are probably the best but didn't expect to run into issues with the QLDs.

          It's probably about time I did an update on the QLD firmware anyway so I'll report back if it made any difference.

          Thanks,
          Nad

          Comment

          • westernm
            Automated Home Jr Member
            • Apr 2008
            • 22

            #6
            Thanks for extra info Nad.
            I have gone with the option of adding an incandescent bulb in parallel and placing this bulb in a cupboard. Its not an ideal solution but as these lights use special lamps I dont have the option of trying other brands.
            I hope to get around to generating a profile dump of the QLD in question as requested by Karam when I get a chance but other house building jobs taking priority at the moment

            Thanks

            Mark

            Comment

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