CTB16D Boards For Incandescent Only

[Stan B]

I have three CTB16D boards that say "for incandescent lights only".

Am I confined to using only incandescent lights?

I purchased these not realizing this restriction.

Thanks,

Stan

[Denny]

Have used them to control LEDs with no problem. I think the restriction is aimed more towards the control of electric motors.

[-klb-]

And no CFL bulbs...

[ErnieHorning]

-klb- wrote:

And no CFL bulbs...

It's not that the controller will be harmed by connecting CFL's, it's that CFL's could have a shorter life than the advertised time. Certain CFL's will work fine. You just can't turn then on/off quickly like you can with LED's and incandescents.

[Stan B]

Thank you Denny, klb and Ernie. I wanted to make sure I could use LED's with these controllers.

Thanks Again,

Stan

[ErnieHorning]

Jeff Millard wrote:

CFL's have a rude way of creating noise that has been found to affect the proper operation of the LOR network.

I have one of the LOR controllers now, so I'll look into it. I haven't had any communication problems with the DIY controllers that I designed but they're a bit different in that they work with RS232 or RS485 on the same input.

Jeff Millard wrote:

LOR is not a place you want to include any CFL lighting.

I know several people that use CFL's with LOR and aren't having noise issues, so it is possible. Maybe it's the way they route cables. I understand that LOR is sensitive to running comm cables in parallel with AC power cords.

Electrical noise is part of my day job so I have a bit of experience in this area. I also have access to various noise generators that may also be helpful.

[-klb-]

I agree that the CFL's won't damage the controller. Short of high current, or voltage spikes from inductive loads or lightning, not much that you plug into them is likely to hurt them.

And I have experienced some really amazing communication issues from just a few CFL bulbs, including controllers responding to commands that were not addressed to them.

But I have also seen other issues. I have seen a controller with just one CFL bulb turned on loose the ability to dim the rest of the channels. They turned into on/off control only. Just a guess, but I think it is likely that the CFL bulbs in question are a highly reactive load, drawing current in advance of voltage, and in combination with the resistance of the feed circuit, causing voltage zero crossing and current zero crossing to be out of sync, so that current has crossed zero and the triac is already conducting in the other direction before the logic is expecting zero voltage crossing, and turns off the trigger signal to the triac...

[TitusCarnathan]

Lor should change the manual and the boards message to incandescent and certain leds only

instead of incandescent only because that does make you think you can only use incandescent since Leds are not incandecent:)

[LightORamaDan]

T110431 wrote:

Lor should change the manual and the boards message to incandescent and certain leds only

instead of incandescent only because that does make you think you can only use incandescent since Leds are not incandecent:)

I agree and we will make some changes to the manuals. Part of the reason for the wording is to satisify ETL's UL508 certificaition. They only test with a certian load wile certifying the cards so we can only say they work with those loads. (red tape stuff )

[lightzilla]

Does that go to the 8 channel cards too? Can they run LEDs?

I passed those up during the Feb. Lor sale because in said "for incandescent lights only" and I used LEDs only, and I could have used 2 of those 8 channel controllers.

Perhaps I can get them in the summer sale if the answer is "yes" you can run LEDs on them.

[LightORamaDan]

lightzilla wrote:

Does that go to the 8 channel cards too? Can they run LEDs?

I passed those up during the Feb. Lor sale because in said "for incandescent lights only" and I used LEDs only, and I could have used 2 of those 8 channel controllers.

Perhaps I can get them in the summer sale if the answer is "yes" you can run LEDs on them.

Yes it is the same story for the 8 channel cards.

[lightzilla]

LightORamaDan wrote:

lightzilla wrote:

Does that go to the 8 channel cards too? Can they run LEDs?

I passed those up during the Feb. Lor sale because in said "for incandescent lights only" and I used LEDs only, and I could have used 2 of those 8 channel controllers.

Perhaps I can get them in the summer sale if the answer is "yes" you can run LEDs on them.

Yes it is the same story for the 8 channel cards.

Thank you Dan for the answer now I knew. That opens another avenue for me.

[Rafter Bar R]

I've seen dimmable CFL's on the market(for use in existing in wall incandescent dimmers), would these work with LOR boards? It's something that I'm not going to mess with, just asking this for those who would want to use them.

[ErnieHorning]

I've tried dimmable CFL's on my DIY controllers (same TRIAC's as LOR) and they seem to work. They turn on and off just fine (as fast as a 1/2 second rate) and they dim down to around 30%. I haven't run these as part of the display, just experimenting.

BTW, interestingly if you put a dimmable CFL in parallel with and standard CFL, it will dim identically. Even when paralleled with at least four.