Removing a (faulty) dimmer unit

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mdf

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#195708 30-Apr-2016 20:56

My dining room's lights are driving me nuts with a high frequency flickering.

The light switch for these lights has a dimmer switch that doesn't do anything (even with incandescent bulbs). I've tried changing the bulbs (including different sorts of bulb) with no joy. I am pretty sure I've seen a similar flickering previously and it was a faulty dimmer. While I am happy to call a sparky come Monday, I am not sure I can take another 24 hours of the flickering. It's a new place and we've only been here a couple of days, so I don't have a before to compare to.

Can I legally and safely remove the dimmer unit from the light switch to see if that fixes it? What do I do?

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#1544640 30-Apr-2016 21:14

Cant you just use some other lamps instead? If you are asking how to remove a dimmer then it kinda points to not being competent to do the job.

Richard rich.ms

mdf

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#1544643 30-Apr-2016 21:20

richms:

Cant you just use some other lamps instead? If you are asking how to remove a dimmer then it kinda points to not being competent to do the job.

Gee, don't sugar coat it ;)

I have 88 boxes in my garage. The moving men pointed this out to me more than once. I have no idea where any other lamps are.

mdf

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#1544644 30-Apr-2016 21:20

mdf:

richms:

Cant you just use some other lamps instead? If you are asking how to remove a dimmer then it kinda points to not being competent to do the job.

Gee, don't sugar coat it ;)

I have 88 boxes in my garage. The moving men pointed this out to me more than once. I have no idea where any other lamps are.

Sorry, I take that back. I know _exactly_ where the other lamps are. In the garage...

larknz

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#1544645 30-Apr-2016 21:21

You are legally allowed to replace the switch if it is faulty if you own the house. But you need to know what you are doing and the risks involved.

mdf

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#1544646 30-Apr-2016 21:26

If I remember rightly from the last time it happened (watching the professional fix one), there just a unit wired in parallel with the switch. Is it as simple as removing the whole unit, connecting wires and all? Any more complicated than (1) turn the power off at the fuse box and (2) loosen some screws, and I'll pass. I've given most things a go at least once, but mains electrical stuff has always been a no go for me. I don't think that's a silly policy to have.

larknz

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#1544649 30-Apr-2016 21:29

If you don't already know what to do you should probably get a professional.

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Rikkitic

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#1544650 30-Apr-2016 21:30

I agree with the above. If you really do know something about electricity, even if not formally qualified, this is not a difficult job. But you are talking about 220 volts here and that's another word for instant death and destruction if you get it wrong. It is not something you should be learning on. Find a way to work around it until you can get someone to do it for you.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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#1544651 30-Apr-2016 21:33

If you don't kill yourself there is the potential to burn the house down and have the insurance company asking who did the work.

mdf

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#1544653 30-Apr-2016 21:43

Yeah, fair call. Thanks everyone. Combination of Geekzone + not going anywhere near the f*ing flickering lights for a few minutes has me seeing a bit more clearly.

For the record (and I promise I am not going anywhere near the light switch with anything like a screwdriver), could a faulty dimmer cause the flickering problem described?

larknz

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#1544656 30-Apr-2016 21:47

Yes it could assuming that you have an incandescent bulb in the fitting, although they normally just fail to dim.

richms

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#1544658 30-Apr-2016 21:59

mdf:

Yeah, fair call. Thanks everyone. Combination of Geekzone + not going anywhere near the f*ing flickering lights for a few minutes has me seeing a bit more clearly.

For the record (and I promise I am not going anywhere near the light switch with anything like a screwdriver), could a faulty dimmer cause the flickering problem described?

Defiantly can cause that, but so can a loose connection or a faulty switch so dont be so sure that it is just a dimmer that you need to bypass.

There isnt a chance that a non incandesent light is on the dimmer anywhere at all in another fitting? Even if it is "dead" it can still mess them up massivly.

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#1544666 30-Apr-2016 22:03

Which goes to show that this is not the place to learn basic electrical wiring knowledge.

mdf

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#1544667 30-Apr-2016 22:10

larknz: Which goes to show that this is not the place to learn basic electrical wiring knowledge.

Hey, now, you can't get much more basic than "don't touch it" and I've (re)learned that tonight!

Rikkitic

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#1544669 30-Apr-2016 22:14

Actually the bulb itself can also do this. I have had incandescents set up a bad flicker due to a filament making an intermittent connection as it repeatedly heats and cools. But you say you already swapped the bulb so that wouldn't be it.

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mdf

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#1544670 30-Apr-2016 22:15

richms:

mdf:

Yeah, fair call. Thanks everyone. Combination of Geekzone + not going anywhere near the f*ing flickering lights for a few minutes has me seeing a bit more clearly.

For the record (and I promise I am not going anywhere near the light switch with anything like a screwdriver), could a faulty dimmer cause the flickering problem described?

Defiantly can cause that, but so can a loose connection or a faulty switch so dont be so sure that it is just a dimmer that you need to bypass.

There isnt a chance that a non incandesent light is on the dimmer anywhere at all in another fitting? Even if it is "dead" it can still mess them up massivly.

I don't think so. All the other lights in the room have different switches. It would have to be a bulb in a completely different part of the house.

The original bulbs were a mis-matched pair that I replaced first with some LED bulbs, and then with old-style incandescents. They all made the same flickering.

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