Temperamental LM12W

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  • Geoffneck
    Automated Home Lurker
    • Jun 2004
    • 3

    Temperamental LM12W

    I purchased the wire LM12W to control some wall lights I recently wired to my living room (3 lights @ 50W each)

    I wired it in parallel to my dimmer in the living room. This means I can turn on/off with the dimmer, and turn on/off with x10 (marmitek remote), but have to have one in the off position at all times to have full control.

    I wired up, plugged in my TM13AH tranceiver module within range of remote and tested.

    The lights would turn on/off via the remote, and dim... but after about a minute of playing around, the whole thing would freeze up, i would usually have to unplug the tranceiver and come back to it in about 1/2 hour to turn the light off....

    I dont have a clue how to fix this... One thing to note is that the wired LM12W is on the lighting wiring, that is not on a ring main loop, and the TM13AH is on the Socket ring main loop that returns to the consumer unit.

    Any help appreciated...
  • jon00
    Automated Home Sr Member
    • Jan 2004
    • 64

    #2
    Re: Temperamental LM12W

    Putting a normal dimmer in parallel with a LM12W sounds potentially dangerous to me.

    You really need to install a LD11 or a Marmitek AWM2 MicroModule combined with a momentary switch for on/off dimming control.

    Disconnect your wall dimmer and try X10 control again.
    Jon

    www.jon00.me.uk

    Comment

    • Geoffneck
      Automated Home Lurker
      • Jun 2004
      • 3

      #3
      Re: Temperamental LM12W

      Is there any description on how X10 in the UK works technically co I can try to understand what is going on...

      From what i understood, i had bought enough to control my wall lights... should i wire them in series with the module? rather than parallel. I want to avoid purchasing any more modules at this stage.

      Cheers

      Comment

      • jon00
        Automated Home Sr Member
        • Jan 2004
        • 64

        #4
        Re: Temperamental LM12W

        Geoff,

        The normal purpose of X10 hardware is to control something via a carrier sent across the mains wiring. In your case, the LM12W controls 230V lights and has off/on & dimming capabilities. It does not have any external control inputs(i.e. to operate via a light switch). So as it stands, the only way you can control this circuit with this module is to use your TM13U and your remote. The light switch cannot be added

        As you want to control the circuit with a light switch, then the correct X10 hardware would be a LW10U which is an integral X10 dimmer with built in a light switch or a LD11 Din rail dimmer which uses a momentary switch to turn on/off or dim the circuit. Although more complicated to wire, the LD11 is a much better module to use and is much more sensitive to X10 signals.

        You cannot just put your LM12W dimmer module in parallel with another wall dimmer. Even in its simplest form, if your wall dimmer was on maximum (i.e a short circuit - like a switch would be if it was on) how on earth is the LM12W going to be able to turn this off? I see more serious problems with two electronic units across each other.

        If you have to use the LW12W modules, then the only way to control them would be to use a SS13 3 button RF switch with your TM13U. These are American looking switch plates that just sticks to the wall. When you press a button, it sends RF out to your TM13U to control your LM12W

        If you have purchased several of these modules to control lighting with light switches, I would suggest that you try for a refund and re-think your options.

        Sorry for not being more positive on this one.
        Jon

        www.jon00.me.uk

        Comment

        • Geoffneck
          Automated Home Lurker
          • Jun 2004
          • 3

          #5
          Re: Temperamental LM12W

          Thanks Jon, your post clarifys what i've been finding out over the past few days...

          What I'll have to do is buy the LD11 as it does exactly what I want, the only pain is it being more hassle to run dedicated wiring plus a bit of saving to get all the parts

          Thanks for the advice

          Comment

          • dagregg
            Automated Home Lurker
            • Mar 2004
            • 2

            #6
            Re: Temperamental LM12W

            I wanted to design a system where X10 movement detector lights (PR7211) turn on an internal light using an LM12W module but only whilst the house is unoccupied as a burglar deterent. The rest of the time I wanted the internal light to operate as normal ie. turned on/off with a traditional lightswitch. This is because the internal light in quesiton is in a hallway and not a room where remote control on/off or dim is required. Also I did not want the light coming on everytime we let the dogs into the garden. I have now achieved this by means of an additional lightswitch which, when turned on, allows X10 control of the light and, when turned off, allows normal manual operation of the light. Now before we leave the house we switch X10 control on which allows the light to come on if somebody walks up to the house and on our return we switch it off again. If anyone is interested let me know and I can supply a circuit diagram.

            Comment

            • Wolfthing
              Automated Home Jr Member
              • Jun 2004
              • 42

              #7
              Re: Temperamental LM12W

              If you're experiencing difficulties with X10 have you considered Z-Wave?

              It uses communications over RF rather than sending signals over the mains.

              Always an option if you're very "early" in your home automation rollout.

              Comment

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