[BC] Attack of the Demon Dimmers

[Ron Castro]

I've bought several dimmers over the past two years (remodeling!) and have 
had no problem with RFI, including in the HF ham bands.  I found that you 
have to look for anything on the label that indicates that it's 'radio 
interference free' or words to that effect.

BTW, I accidentally plugged in a large compressor I was using for a nail-gun 
to a socket with a dimmer connected to it.  Everything was fine until the 
pressure went low enough to start the motor---the motor made one 'chug' and 
the room got dark real fast!  The dimmer is smoked...

Ron Castro
Chief Technical Officer
Results Radio, LLC


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Taggart" <tpt at eurekanet.com>
To: <Broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 1:44 PM
Subject: [BC] Attack of the Demon Dimmers


> The old GE 600 watt dimmer died on the chandelier above the dining room 
> table.  Complaints drove me to the local hardware store for a 
> replacement.   They had a Trimatron Model 700 made in some Chinese factory 
> for Levitron.
>
> Has three wires--hot/load and ground.  Unlike the old GE dimmer.  Hooked 
> up the two black wires, dimmer worked, but horrific noise all across the 
> AM band.  Where to hook the ground--would that help?  Well, my house was 
> built in in 1955, but the other switch in the box had a neutral 
> connection, hooked up the ground to that. No change in AM noise.  The 
> noise is so bad that I can hear it on a local kilowatt daytimer on my car 
> radio just outside the house. Part 15?  WE don't need no part 15.
>
> I'm going to the electrical supply place next town overand see what I can 
> find, this thing is going in the trash.  Or maybe I can drill out the 
> rivet & find a new SCR for the GE.  Unfortunately, there must be hundreds 
> of thousands of these things already out there.
>
> -- 
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