Bright flash?

Devices & Integrations
1

So… twice this evening we have had such a quick bright flash come from our smartthings controlled lights. They are set at 30% and dim via an aeon labs micro dimmer. It was so quick we were not sure if it was the tv or not so rewound it and no… must of been the lights.

I’m not using led lamps, just standard incandescent lamps. Also smartthings is connected to alexa (amazon echo) but she shouldn’t be able to have any involvement unless we say her name… or so you should hope so.

Anyone else had this issue? Going to take a lamp out (1 of 2) to make sure it’s not just 1 lamp causing the problem

2

But seriously though…I’d certainly rule Alexa out, as there is no “make these dimmed lights flash briefly” command she could send to ST. So that leaves either the dimmer or the fixture, assuming all the bulbs that flashed are in the same fixture. If they’re not then that pretty much narrows it down to the dimmer.

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3

I have seen something similar where I manually flip a switch in an adjacent bathroom light and I’ll notice the bedroom ceiling fan lights flicker for just a quick flash. Both are on GE Z-wave switches. I’m not sure what causes it.

4

I have been working with solid state switches and receptacles for as long as I remember. In my years of working with these types of switches I have seen a slight imbalance in a electrical circuit cause havoc with these devices. The good thing is that small fluctuations are handled well by the devices, but sometimes if it happens very often I would look into what is on that circuit and what the voltage to ground is on the neutral. The problem with that testing is that YOU CAN’T REMOVE THE NEUTRAL FROM THE NEUTRAL BAR!!! As this is dangerous to you and the equipment on the circuit. Most people don’t realize how dangerous that white wire is. The neutral takes the emblance of what is not used by the things attached. So never get between a neutral and a ground. The white wire is not a safe wire as many people think. I have seen two men get badly burnt from getting in the circuit, and one had his heart stop. This is something we are taught in the five years of school we are required to do before we become electricians. In NYC we have three distinctly different electrical systems with three different wiring color codes. The regular system, the Port Authority and the Transit authority. Most buildings here ave 277/480 volt lighting and motors and 120/208 for other things. Most office buildings have both and is three phase. The port authority is another story, the same voltage but depending on when it was built different color wire. Mostly now everyone uses Blue/Black Red and white, or Black , Red , Blue and White. The Board of Education changes the Blue and Black. Then it Brown, Orange Yellow and Gray. Enough garbage. I was in a writing mode.

5

thats where I’m lucky I’m an electrician :+1:but don’t really deal with small circuit boards etc. In the UK our normal voltage is 230v and 400v 3 phase. And yeah a shock from a disconnected neutral hurts lol

6

I hear you. I always wonder why our systems are so different. On one had yours is more efficient, but on the other hand so much more dangerous.

7

Does NY still have any of that old oddball 25 cycle or whatever it was ? Remember that Niagara still had a turbo or 2 running it at 1 time.

8

Well since the area around Park Avenue and 42nd street and higher still gets their voltage from AmTrak there is still some buildings that have DC with inverters to AC. Also some very old buildings have the Bastard Leg, where one leg off the transformer if not handled properly has a higher voltage than 120. If by error the electrician picks up that leg there is a very dangerous situation. I figure there are only a small handful of those.

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