I'm about to order some X10 stuff, but the website I'm going to order from says that the Light switches I'm after (LW10U) are rated at 60-300W. The upper limit is no problem, but for one of the switches I'm using there will only be a single 50W bulb, the rest will control 2-4 50W bulbs (i.e. 100-200W).

Will I be able to use X10 switches with this combination of lights or do I need to consider some other way of automating my lighting.

BTW the lights can't be changed to 60W ones (unfortunately) as they are GU10 mains-voltage dimmable halogens. I'm right in assuming these will be OK aren't I?

cheers

Owain

I use LW10G (almost LW10U) with lamps from 30 W, and it works OK. I didn't try 20 or 10 W, but with 5W lamps some switches work fine, and some didn't. You can select the switch, that works with low wattage lamps better - just try all of switches. In reality they differ very much.

cheers unc,

what is the difference between LW10G's and LW10U's?

also what do you use 5W lamps for?

ta

owain

The difference is in security degree. I used 5W lamps just to test the switches. Some work with 5w lamps good, some didn't work at all.

I've done a bit of looking about and have found that the LW10G's are German versions of the switch (I think).

Would you recommend them for use in the UK (over the UK versions)(if so why are they better?), or are you using them cos you live in Germany?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but I'm a bit new to this.

Cheers

Owain

Yes, the both are GB and German versions of LW10. But the schematics are the same. I don't know GB lows enough, but I think You can have problems with hous insuranse and so on, if LW12G is not certified for use in GB. LW12G are not better than LW12U. You can make some experiments with all of youth LW12's and select LW12u, that works better with low-0wattage lamps. I live not in GB, in Russia.

i've had problems at both ends of the wattage scale.

With a low wattage night light (30w) the light flickers too much - i now use an appliance module which works ok. At the other end I used a 300w halogen light for a while before the to of my LW10 melted!

Malcolm

Halogen lamps have a very low resistance , some times lower than usual vacuum lamps, at a cold condition. I tested about 20 LW , and half of them have problems with low-wattage lamps, but another half works with 5 W lamps.