[butcher733]

I just installed some cooper dimmers (like maestros) and they worked great until today. whenever i put a load on the circuit with my shop vac the lights will flicker and brown out intermittently while the shop vac is on, and then continue after the shop vac is turned off until i turn the lights off. What the hell is going on? I checked all the connections. The indicator lights on the two slave dimmers
will flicker when the problem is going on but the indicator lights on the master won't.

 

[8V71]

Electrical noise from the vac motor is screwing with the dimmer electronics?

 

[butcher733]

Electrical noise from the vac motor is screwing with the dimmer electronics?

would that take a couple weeks of occasional use of the vac to make the problem appear?

 

[8V71]

would that take a couple weeks of occasional use of the vac to make the problem appear?

No, I wouldn't think so. Is this at your home? Vacs draw a lot of current and maybe this is only happening when the utility voltage is on the low side. Or it could be low humidity conditions if the electrical noise is traveling through the air. :001_huh:

 

[butcher733]

No, I wouldn't think so. Is this at your home? Vacs draw a lot of current and maybe this is only happening when the utility voltage is on the low side. Or it could be low humidity conditions if the electrical noise is traveling through the air. :001_huh:

yes it is at my house. what's that about humidity?

 

[8V71]

I can't back it up with any theory but experience leads me to believe that electrical garbage from noise generating devices travels easier and farther in low humidity conditions.

 

[8V71]

Do the lights start flickering the instant that you turn the vacuum on? If so, I would go with a deep voltage drop from the vacuum starting and causing the electronics to self oscillate which is why you have to turn it off to make it work properly again. Low utility voltage or house load could be why it only happens sometimes.

 

[ablyss]

Sounds like the little circuitry is too sensitive or has gone bad.

 

[svh19044]

Remove cooper.

Install Lutron.

Or, what shop vac are you using?

 

[butcher733]

Do the lights start flickering the instant that you turn the vacuum on? If so, I would go with a deep voltage drop from the vacuum starting and causing the electronics to self oscillate which is why you have to turn it off to make it work properly again. Low utility voltage or house load could be why it only happens sometimes.

The problem starts as soon as the vac starts and continues while it is on and continues after you turn it off to a lesser degree.

 

[butcher733]

Remove cooper.

Install Lutron.

Or, what shop vac are you using?

Shop vac brand. 10 gallon.

 

[butcher733]

I get out of bed this morning and decide to plug in a 1500 watt space heater onto the same circuit as the lights to see if it made them pulse. Nope. Then I plugged the shop vac back in. No flicker. Must have been voltage drop.

 

[Mate]

I get out of bed this morning and decide to plug in a 1500 watt space heater onto the same circuit as the lights to see if it made them pulse. Nope. Then I plugged the shop vac back in. No flicker. Must have been voltage drop.

Or someone change your dimmer for a lutron while you were sleeping....

 

[ablyss]

We couldn't persuade you to put on your tinfoil hat and wave your geiger meter around for any displacements in atmospheric voltages???

 

[FrunkSlammer]

Was it LED lights? I'm suspecting it was. I've heard of this happening.

 

[butcher733]

Update

So the problem is still intermittent but now the dimmers have a permanent glitch in them when dimming to lowest setting. It will always pulse the led's at full bright two times in quick succession right before hitting the lowest setting.

The other event that triggered the flickering was me turning on the ceiling fan in the downstairs fourth bedroom. The fan and its lights are on an old general electric dimmer. The fan and the cfl's that are in the light kit did not like the dimmer and I have been meaning to replace it since I bought the house. I replaced the dimmer with a normal snap switch and it stopped making the lights flicker on the dimmers upstairs.

Are these cooper dimmers THAT prone to problems with noise? What lutron products do I replace them with? Any Ideas?

 

[butcher733]

I get out of bed this morning and decide to plug in a 1500 watt space heater onto the same circuit as the lights to see if it made them pulse. Nope. Then I plugged the shop vac back in. No flicker. Must have been voltage drop.

BTW, checked voltage at panel when the lights were flickering and was reading 124v to neutral on both phases.

 

[ablyss]

So the problem is still intermittent but now the dimmers have a permanent glitch in them when dimming to lowest setting. It will always pulse the led's at full bright two times in quick succession right before hitting the lowest setting.

The other event that triggered the flickering was me turning on the ceiling fan in the downstairs fourth bedroom. The fan and its lights are on an old general electric dimmer. The fan and the cfl's that are in the light kit did not like the dimmer and I have been meaning to replace it since I bought the house. I replaced the dimmer with a normal snap switch and it stopped making the lights flicker on the dimmers upstairs.

Are these cooper dimmers THAT prone to problems with noise? What lutron products do I replace them with? Any Ideas?

If I'm understanding you right your have LED bulbs that flicker when dimmed. The solution is to use Cree LED. There available at Home Depot.
I don't want to sound like a sells rep but the Cree LED work with all types of dimmers. Plus they are the only brand of LED Georgia Power stands behind.

Aside from that don't use CFL. They're garbage on every level.

 

[butcher733]

If I'm understanding you right your have LED bulbs that flicker when dimmed. The solution is to use Cree LED. There available at Home Depot.
I don't want to sound like a sells rep but the Cree LED work with all types of dimmers. Plus they are the only brand of LED Georgia Power stands behind.

Aside from that don't use CFL. They're garbage on every level.

It did the same thing with standard 65 what bulbs. Its a wiring problem or a problem with the dimmers. I do not believe it is a wiring problem.

 

[ablyss]

It did the same thing with standard 65 what bulbs. Its a wiring problem or a problem with the dimmers. I do not believe it is a wiring problem.

Gotcha. Dimmers can and do go bad. I've came across flickering dimmers before.