All my UPB in-wall dimmers died today

E

elcano

Active Member
The WAF is dirty down today. Even I'm very deceived with the technology, which is supposed to be more robust than similar alternatives. There where somer thunders today, but all seemed to be far away - no lightning here. My TV has been on the whole day without a glitch.

Not that I had zillions of in-walls - only three 240s and one 1130, but that is what my HA allowance let me buy 13-14 months ago. The dimmers do not repond to local control, the LEDs are dead, and they are completely invisible to the Computer Interface Module.

Have anybody noticed anything similar?
 
elcano,

On July 2, 2006 you asked about this :D

I had the same problem and the conclusion was that it probably something related to a batch of diodes. Your timing seems to be similar, perhaps it was the same batch... The bad news is that it sucks to replace switches. The good news is they will most likely be swapped out under warranty - check with your reseller. See this thread for my experience with this.
 
Steve - Yesterday before posting I did several searches using UPB and related keywords because I seemed to remember about somebody have a similar incident, but after about 30 minutes I assumed that I was wrong, because I couldn't find it. Thanks for the link. I will have to arrange for claiming the warranty (and replace the switches with regular ones in the mean time). Still frustrated - suppose that I'll fell better once the working units are installed.

rfdesq - I cycled my breakers to reset the power on them, but this didn't work. I found how to open the air gap for the HAI dimmers doing a search in internet, but could not find anything about it for the SAI dimmers (I admit that I have not performed a serach for the manuals, just searched "air gap" and SAI/Simply Automated). It is on the LED plastic tip? Even If I have to replace the switches, its good to know.
 
Yes, its the plastic clear light pipe. Lift them up and pull out (just a little)... then push back in. Details are on the instruction page that came with the switches.
 
The reason I mentioned the air gap was that I had this same thing happen on a customer PCS install. No led, no working switch, etc. after working fine for months. I air gapped the switches and it has been rock solid since.
 
drozwood90 said:
What does the Air Gapping do for you?
Click to expand...
Hi Dan,

It removes the power from the switch.

If the firmware inside the switch was lost or hung, then resetting with the air-gap starts it up fresh. Cycling the breaker would do the same thing, but the air-gap doesn't screw-up your clocks.
 
rocco said:
drozwood90 said:
What does the Air Gapping do for you?
Click to expand...
Hi Dan,

It removes the power from the switch.

If the firmware inside the switch was lost or hung, then resetting with the air-gap starts it up fresh. Cycling the breaker would do the same thing, but the air-gap doesn't screw-up your clocks.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rocco!

As they are using microcontroller chips, it's a wonder they did not use a Watch Dog Timer to self reset the switch if it hangs up! That's what I did in my pan tilt system I just put together for work! http://www.criticalimaging.net/SR-700.htm
I'd like to have one for home to spy on my nosy neighbor...but I guess pointing at him when he watches me...so he ducks behind a curtain is always fun! Won't he really be sore when I finally get my Pan Tilt camera setup in the back yard!!

--Dan
 
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