The receiver then switches the lights and are available in dimmable or non dimmable versions, as well as a Wi-Fi version for smart phone control. Using the energy generated from pressing the switch, which is enough to send the signal to the receiver. Wireless switches used to be battery powered, Ener-J have taken this a step further with their kinetic switches. Lightwave discontinued their Gen1, Connect Series. Brands like Rako and Lutron have their own wireless systems. If you've already got wires in place you can still use a wireless switch by terminating the wires. It receives an RF (Radio Frequency) signal from the switch to tell the receiver what to do. The receiver is positioned in the ceiling void near to the lights. Wireless switches usually require an additional receiver for them to work. While the Lightwave Smart series dimmers can be programmed via their App to perform 2 way or even 3 way dimming. Varilight requires a combination of master and slave dimmers for it to work. With the arrival of Varilight V-Pro multi-point dimmers (formally Eclique) and Lightwave Smart switches, this is now easy to do and doesn't cost too much. Up until fairly recently two way dimming was quite expensive, it could be done using Lutron Rania until they got discontinued. If you've dimmed the lights to 50% the switch will keep switching it and off at that level until you dim it again. The dimmer will do the dimming and the two way switch will be able to switch it on and off. You can have a dimmer switch and an on/off switch on the same. This would cause major instability on the circuit, like the time when the ghost busters crossed the beams! Or vice-versa you could be attempting to brighten the light above 100%. You can’t use ordinary rotary dimmer switches to do this because you could potentially dim the light down to 10% with one dimmer, then walk over to the other dimmer and attempt to dim the light to below 0%. Two way dimming allows you to dim a light fixture from two locations. Check out the diagram below that shows how to way a three way switch: Intermediate switches have terminals marked L1, L2, 元 and L4. It’s not known as three way switching because you can also add more switches for four way switching or more. An example of this would be having one switch at the bottom of a staircase, one at the top and one in the middle. Intermediate switching is similar to two way but allows a third switch to be integrated. Here is a wiring example of a Lightwave RF Gen1 dimmer switch shown from behind: The S terminal can only be linked up to a corresponding slave and won't work with an ordinary two way switch. More advanced dimmer switches like Varilight Eclique (now called V-Pro Multi-Point Touch) and Lightwave have an S terminal instead. Two way switches have a COM terminal as well as L1 and L2 terminals. The more popular light switch with two way switching, which means you can switch the same light fixture from two switches that are located in different sides of a room. Manufacturers don’t make decorative one way switches. This is because two way switches can also be used on one way circuits. If you’re circuit is only one way, you can ignore this terminal and it will still work. When you’re wiring decorative light switches such as chrome or stainless steel etc, you’ll find that the switch will also have an L2 terminal which means it’s a two way switch. The other terminal is marked as L1 and is the output to the light fixture. The common is for the live wire that supplies the input voltage to the switch. If you’re attempting to wire anything more complicated like upgrading a 4 gang light switch to a 4 gang dimmer switch it may be worth taking a quick photo first just in-case you get muddled up with the wires and need to revert back.Ī one way light switch has two terminals which is a common marked as COM or C. These ratings differ with 1 gang, 2 gang and 3 gang versions. LEDs often need to be de-rated, for example the Varilight V-Pro is rated a 120W for LED and 400W for incandescent with a maximum of 10 LEDs. The maximum current rating should also be adhered to this is usually 6 to 10 amps per switch for on/off switches and for dimmer switches its 250W or 400W. Basic safety procedures should always be followed such as switching off the mains supply before commencing any work. We are not electricians and have taken all the diagrams from the instructions that are supplied with the products we sell. Ranging from simple one way switches to more advanced keypads that are used in home automation systems such as Lutron.Īny electrical wiring should be done by a qualified electrician. This FAQ has been produced to explain the different types of light switches, circuits and terminologies that are used in modern day lighting installations.
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