I can’t ask my sparkie, ’cause it’s after hours, but maybe you all will know.
A stairway lighting circuit has three-way switches at top and bottom of stairs. Client wants lights dimmable. To save cost, can only one of the switches have a dimmer?
I can’t ask my sparkie, ’cause it’s after hours, but maybe you all will know.
A stairway lighting circuit has three-way switches at top and bottom of stairs. Client wants lights dimmable. To save cost, can only one of the switches have a dimmer?
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Replies
......yes,only need one anyway.......
Yeah, I have one set like that. One 3-way switch has a slide right beside the toggle. I don't know how two dimmers would work, but I suspect it is possible.
If you want to dim from 1 location, it is easy and cheap.
If you want to dim from 2 or more locations ,it is still easy but the special dimmers are expensive.
Yes, that's the usual way to do it. The 3 way dimmer has a 3 way switch built in, with the dimmer in series with the throw. The dimmer is also set up so you can't dim it all the way to no light. The other location gets a standard 3 way switch.
The logic behind that is that if you have the light switched off and dimmed to the minimum, you can still turn it on at the regular 3 way and get something to see by. Then you can walk safely to the other location to change the dimmer level if you want.
To have full range dimmer control from more than one location, you have to get into X-10 or stuff like that.
-- J.S.
Thanks, I wondered about that biz with the one dimmer, throwing the other switch on, and getting no light because the dimmer was dimmed down completely. Now I see what to do.
You've thrown some light on the topic!
LUtron has a multiway dimmer.It consists of a master and up to 10 slaves. Can be hooked up using the same wiring as for standard 3-way/4-way switches.With it you can turn on and off and dim/brighten from any of the locations.Cost about $50-60 for the master and 1 slave.