ok i am having huge issues ..... im trying to install 3 way dimmer switches.  ive hard wired the lights and they were full brightness and fine.  ive wired each dimmer in alone and they work fine, full brightness, dim all the way to the bottom and no issues at all.    now when i wire the 2 dimmers together the lights will not go to full brightness and they flicker.  power is wired to the 1st switch black, reds between switches together, whites between switches together, black from second switch to black on the lights.  its the lutron switches from home depot.  anyone have any ideas?

ok so i after continuing to play i find out apparently lutron 3 way dimmer switches are not compatible with eachother.  model dv-600pr-wh does not like dvw-603pgh-wh.  both 3 way dimmers.  a big huge thanks to the home depot guy who told me its the same thing, i knew he way full of it.  so now they dont flicker and they go full brightness but the entire dimming process only works on the last quarter inch of the slide.  my wife says the bedroom did that at first too but now when i dim them all the way down they have a soft glow still, not off, like the kitchen.    any ideas or is this regular operation?

quick answer, on vacation, using wife's xoom-tablet, so i can not give a diagram.

This was discussed a while back and I took the position that Gerry stated above. That is true for conventional switching, but it turned out that there are some electronic versions which do allow for dimming from more than one location. I think one of those may have been from Lutron but am possibly wrong about that.

Since the search function is so broken on this site, I can't find the 'thread'. Does anybody else know how to find it? ... and would they please post a link?

thanks guys, i have read that in a regular situation you cant use 2 dimmers but supposedly these are meant to work together.  i gonna call the company this morning and see what they say, may im misunderstanding the box and they are only meant for one location.  and gerry how is it you ALWAYS end up answering almost every one of my questions on this forum .... lol.   again thanks guys, ill update later one i talk to the company and see what they say.

how is the xoom bty?

Posted By SnakeEyes on 02-03-2012 08:47 PM
ok i am having huge issues ..... im trying to install 3 way dimmer switches.  ive hard wired the lights and they were full brightness and fine.  ive wired each dimmer in alone and they work fine, full brightness, dim all the way to the bottom and no issues at all.    now when i wire the 2 dimmers together the lights will not go to full brightness and they flicker.  power is wired to the 1st switch black, reds between switches together, whites between switches together, black from second switch to black on the lights.  its the lutron switches from home depot.  anyone have any ideas?

    Here is a site that has a little info.


        

Background for Troubleshooting Electrical Problems at Home - DIY

O K issue solved. i feel that they should put on the box, "cannot be used with another dimmer". so returned 4 dimmer switches at $30 a peice ($120). The actual equipment i need was a main dimmer with a COMPANION dimmer, not just 2 3-way dimmers. At the Depot, Lutron sells a Maestro Dimmer ($30) and a Companion Maestro Dimmer ($20) which cannot be used alone, it can only be used with the main switch. Installed in 5 minutes and everything works perfectly. They are gonna take some getting used to because when you turn them off, they don't just shut off, they dim off. but it still looks cool, thank you everyone for you help, and Gerry i still wanna know how you like the Xoom, might buy one of them there tablets soon.

Posted By SnakeEyes on 02-04-2012 09:46 AM
O K issue solved. i feel that they should put on the box, "cannot be used with another dimmer". so returned 4 dimmer switches at $30 a peice ($120). The actual equipment i need was a main dimmer with a COMPANION dimmer, not just 2 3-way dimmers. At the Depot, Lutron sells a Maestro Dimmer ($30) and a Companion Maestro Dimmer ($20) which cannot be used alone, it can only be used with the main switch. Installed in 5 minutes and everything works perfectly. They are gonna take some getting used to because when you turn them off, they don't just shut off, they dim off. but it still looks cool, thank you everyone for you help, and Gerry i still wanna know how you like the Xoom, might buy one of them there tablets soon.

   So the new technology that is out there you can have two dimmers or more on one fixture.

   Kinda of a Master/Slave set up.

  Also saw that there are dimmers for L.E.D. and C.F.L.

 Come a long way with the oscillating current switch.

 They even come with remotes        

Posted By SnakeEyes on 02-04-2012 07:27 AM
how is the xoom bty?

Wife loves it. She's addicted to the "angry bird" game. But with it's lightweight size and configuration she can Google things while sitting on the couch and watching TV. It's compatible with most modern Wi-Fi setups and switches to wireless Verizon when no Wi-Fi is available. On our little trip she was even using in from the passenger seat in the car to check on locations of stops she wanted to make. She also was able to bring up the webpage of the B&B we were going to and found out the location she put in the Garmond was wrong, she forgot to preface the name of the road with "Old" and when the Garmond directed us to a farmers field rather than the B&B, we understood why.



With a standard 3-way switch setup one can replace any 3-way switch with a standard 3-way dimmer.

But one can not install two dimmers and it will be double dimming!



AS I UNDERSTAND IT:
Newer 3-way dimmers still use the three wires, but one now ONLY acts like a control wire to synchronize dimming and switching with a remote dimmer, while only one wire between the newer 3-way dimmers caries the load.

Posted By SnakeEyes on 02-04-2012 09:46 AM
O K issue solved. i feel that they should put on the box, "cannot be used with another dimmer". so returned 4 dimmer switches at $30 a peice ($120). The actual equipment i need was a main dimmer with a COMPANION dimmer, not just 2 3-way dimmers. At the Depot, Lutron sells a Maestro Dimmer ($30) and a Companion Maestro Dimmer ($20) which cannot be used alone, it can only be used with the main switch. Installed in 5 minutes and everything works perfectly. They are gonna take some getting used to because when you turn them off, they don't just shut off, they dim off. but it still looks cool, thank you everyone for you help, and Gerry i still wanna know how you like the Xoom, might buy one of them there tablets soon.

    Did you get Main and Companions Installed?

    How many watts will they handle?

Up to 1000 watts. Look at the Lutron site.

Maestro dimmers.  They can also be wireless.

Posted By Gerry_D on 02-05-2012 01:02 PM

Up to 1000 watts. Look at the Lutron site.

Maestro dimmers.  They can also be wireless.

    That sure is great new technology.  

    Like that them dim to off. 

this LUTRON MAESTRO dimmer switch allows dimming capabilities at two locations within the same room.  It has a main dimmer and a remote dimmer, which both of them are connected as you would any other 3way switch, but the travellers have to be connected to the same terminal location on each switch for proper operation.

i havent tried the led dimmers but i did try the cfl dimmer and they suck. its not a gradual dim its more like 3 levels. there horrible right now, hopefully they get alot better soon

Posted By SnakeEyes on 02-06-2012 09:57 PM
i havent tried the led dimmers but i did try the cfl dimmer and they suck. its not a gradual dim its more like 3 levels. there horrible right now, hopefully they get alot better soon

     Switch or bulbs?

            Buy Dimmable CFL Bulbs

Tim Swan:
Where you been???? You have been a Master Life Member since 2000 and only 4 post. We appreciate all the help we can get here so please don't stay away so long.
Take what you need and leave what you can.

Barry,
Actually Tim Swan has beeen active on here, off and on, for several years now. I think he has a new user ID with post #1 just a few days ago.

Yes, everytime I log on after being gone for a few months, I start all over at number 1 again.