Hey all,
I'm working in a space with a bunch of
Leviton D4DMX-MD5 packs. They're the sort with
breaker switches instead of fuses. Yesterday, a lamp blew and it tripped the
breaker on the pack. I replaced the lamp, reset the
breaker, and plugged the
unit back it. Now it's just on all the time and I can't regain control of it. Any suggestions, or am i just down another
dimmer?
Almost certainly the 16 amp
triac on the
channel with the blown lamp died just as the
breaker opened -- that's a "feature" of the D4DMX [sarcasm intended]. They're rated for 110V / 220V operation, but I think the "design" is adequate only in a 220V environment [like China] where the
channel amperage is half of the requirement for the same lamp at 110V. A 16a
triac has a 2X+
safety margin in a 220V setting, but the margin is barely greater than 1X here in the USA . Breakers are intended to protect the circuitry behind them; unfortunately, the
breaker and the
triac both fail at perilously close to the same amperage in the D4DMX. If you, or someone you know, has moderate soldering skills, you can easily replace/upgrade the four 16A triacs with 24A units. They're available at Mouser Electronics (BTA24-600BWRG, 24A, 600V, $1.15/ea, as of this date). It takes about an hour. While you're at it, replace the four, cheesy, stab-lock
outlet receptacles with commercial, back-wired receptacles; the factory receptacles generate quite a
bit of resistance themselves (which adds to the amperage load on the triacs and produces a lot of extra heat). With those two changes you'll have the
dimmer pack that
Leviton should have sold you. They'll likely run cooler and be more robust when exposed to transient load spikes.