I think they've done it again.

This is consistent with the problem being saturation of the L3 inductor in INSTEON dimmers as I noted earlier and with the unofficially proposed fix by SmartHome to add series inductance. (I measured L3 inductance as18uH at minimal load and 120 and 1000hz ).

In other words, a simple fix for a common problem to many wall-mounted dimmers from many manufacturers over the years.

Typical wall- mounted dimmers for residential use have space constraints that typically preclude the large chokes found in architectural and theatrical lighting panels.

By designing a physically small dimmer, INSTEON made their dimmers useable in widely-used small switch boxes that made installation of other, larger dimmer

-- including many/most X-10 models -- impractical. This is/was a good initial trade-off in my opinion -- especially if they promptly identify the problem and supply the fix for the (apparently) small minority of cases where this (apparently minor?) problem arises.

Someone that actually has the flickering problem could broadly assess the proposed fix by adding a pair of inductors (in parallel with each other for adequate current capacity and to minimize likelihood of saturation) from an X-10 WS-467 (I measured ~44uH each) in series with the red load lead of an INSTEON dimmer to raise the total nominal inductance to ~40 uH.

If that solves the problem, a permanent solution that many local authorities would likely consider compliant with the National Electrical Code would be to install a RU- (UL component) rated toroid core with conventional 14awg insulated wire looped through it. The number of turns needed for a given inductance depends in large part on the composition of the core.

One can calculate the resulting inductance for various toroid compositions from the data at rfcafe.com, eg:

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(yes, the url spells "toroid" wrong ;-)

There are numerous sources of toroids on the primary and surplus market.

I have a large supply of red+brown T-36 toroids from

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but they seem to be out of stock. Adding 37 turns enameled 15AWG wire yields ~21 uH which would double the nominal inductance of the INSTEON L3 choke. (This is not an optimum core material for the application.)

... Marc Marc_F_Hult

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Marc F Hult
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I received a new V2 dimmer from Smarthome and conclude that the fix that SmartLabs has put in place consists in increasing the number of turns of the largest inductor ( ~T68 =~16mm =~ 0.68" outside diameter toroid core) from 4 to 12 turns as I noted above. The color of the toroid core (green) has not changed, so it doesn't seem that they changed the core's composition. (ABIK, there is no standard color code for composition that is consistent between manufacturers.) As I also noted above, this makes the inductance comparable to those in other residential dimmers. The 'fix' also has the minor added benefit of somewhat reducing noise put on the power line that can then also be radiated as RF.

Because inductances in series are additive (like resistance) one can accomplish the same thing by adding a choke _outside_ the dimmer case. This was apparently contemplated by SmartHome / SmartLabs, but to their credit, they decided against it -- at least as the only 'fix'.

Of course a home owner could decide to do it herself adding an inductor made from a core with an OD =>~1" and appropriate material (~$1.50 each at e.g.

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and wound with =>~10 turns of AWG14 insulated, UL-approved wire (in other words, plain 'ol insulated wire

14 gauge conventionally used in AC wiring) in series with the INSTEON red (output wire) and connected with wire nuts.

There are also commercially available lamp debuzzing coils (google) but these are bulky and relatively expensive and more than what is needed to solve the flicker problem.

So this tempest-in-a-teapot would seemingly have been avoided if SmartLabs had put 12 turns on the core to begin with -- although it remains to be confirmed that this fix definitively eliminates all flicker problems. I have no INSTEON loads that flicker and haven't tested this.

... Marc Marc_F_Hult

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Marc_F_Hult

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