Retro Fitting X10 Downlights

Kieran — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:05:32 +0000

I recently fitted a series of 8 recessed downlights in my living room. It wasn't as simple as I'd originaly hoped.
There was a requirement for 2 seperate switches to control 400 watts of low voltage down lights.All the lights in my house have an LW12 2 Wire Dimming Micro Module from Lets Automate. These X10 addressable devices don't require a neutral connection and allow me to choose any style of face plate for the lights. Best of all they have a really nice looking soft-start and soft-dim function where the lights fade on and fade off, whilst also remembering the last dim setting. It feels like real Lutron, but better!
Being X10 addressable I have the handy by-product of being able to control them via RF, IR & computer as well.

If you're doing this yourself, make sure the 12 volt transformers you buy are dimmable and of a decent quality, the cheap £5 ones tend buzz horribly when dimmed - especially when you've got a few hidden up in your ceiling space.

The main problem I had was that the LW12s only support 250w, so I had to wire 2x LW12s in parallel to control all 8 lights. 8 x 50w = 400w.

The lights are controlled by two single 1 way retractive System 45 switch from CyberSelect.
I was a little concerned if these switches could be used to control the same lights from two separate locations - they do! So no need for the more expensive 2 way retractive switches.

Retro Fitting Record Pagination with ADOdb For my first project of the New Year I had...

kieranbarnes » Home

Retro Fitting X10 Downlights