120V/50W GU10 Halogen potlights dim (new circuit)
Hi
I have a problem with a set of four halogen 120V pot lights wired in series. When they turn on they are very dim. The power comes from the panel and the circuit is in parallel with two other circuits, one carrying two recepticals (no load) and the other a chandelier with 5 low-energy, dimmerable bulbs. Neither of these circuits have issues.
The power arrives through a three way dimmer switch, goes throught he four lights and to a three way switch at the end. both switches work corretly. The resistence of one bulb is 21 ohms, and at the end of the run I see 84 ohms. both travellers show less than a ohm resistance. I have swapped out the switch for a standard non-dimming three way, but the bubs are still dim.
I have left the bulbs on for about 20 minutes and did not see any flickering. There did not seem to be essesive heat build up.
The only other thing is the dimmer on the chandelier buzzes when set to less than full, but the dimmer on the halogen circuit doesn’t. I don’t beleive this is connected, but there you are anyway.
Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong?
Regards, Richard
Replies
They are wired in series, that's normal. Wire them in parallel like they should be, and all will be well.
Voltage drop duh!
Of course! I'm playing with 30 volts, not 120. I was so caught up with wiring the three way I forgot that the voltage will be shared. Stupid me. I guess I've created myself a nice low voltage circuit.
I hope you don't need to run more wiring. Otherwise, no big deal.