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Question about wiring 2 light circuits with dimmers in small space

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Question about wiring 2 light circuits with dimmers in small space bml 02-21-2007
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Posted by on February 21, 2007, 11:26 am


Hello, thanks for any help you can provide. Here is the situation.

I bought a house with two circuits of canned ceiling lighting in the
kitchen - one set of four incandescent lights over the sink and one
set of four over the island. The set over the sink had a dimmer, the
other one did not. Both switches are in a hole cut in the granite next
to the sink. The hold is three inches wide and standard switch height.
Recently the dimmer switch blew. I took off the face plate and they
had two small crappy switches in there. I want to replace them both
with new 600w dimmer switches. But all I have is 3 inches wide to deal
with in the granite, about an inch less than what is needed for two
dimmer switches.
What are my options here? Is it possible to wire all 8 lights on one
dimmer? But then I have extra space. Please give me your thoughts, I
can provide more details if you need them.

Thanks!

Brian


Posted by JoeSpareBedroom on February 21, 2007, 11:41 am


> Hello, thanks for any help you can provide. Here is the situation.
>
> I bought a house with two circuits of canned ceiling lighting in the
> kitchen - one set of four incandescent lights over the sink and one
> set of four over the island. The set over the sink had a dimmer, the
> other one did not. Both switches are in a hole cut in the granite next
> to the sink. The hold is three inches wide and standard switch height.
> Recently the dimmer switch blew. I took off the face plate and they
> had two small crappy switches in there. I want to replace them both
> with new 600w dimmer switches. But all I have is 3 inches wide to deal
> with in the granite, about an inch less than what is needed for two
> dimmer switches.
> What are my options here? Is it possible to wire all 8 lights on one
> dimmer? But then I have extra space. Please give me your thoughts, I
> can provide more details if you need them.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Brian
>

What is the total wattage of the bulbs involved? If higher than the capacity
of one dimmer, you might want to try smaller bulbs, see if it's enough
light, and go from there.



Posted by George J on February 21, 2007, 4:20 pm


On 21 Feb 2007 08:26:48 -0800, bml@ync.net wrote:

>Hello, thanks for any help you can provide. Here is the situation.
>
>I bought a house with two circuits of canned ceiling lighting in the
>kitchen - one set of four incandescent lights over the sink and one
>set of four over the island. The set over the sink had a dimmer, the
>other one did not. Both switches are in a hole cut in the granite next
>to the sink. The hold is three inches wide and standard switch height.
>Recently the dimmer switch blew. I took off the face plate and they
>had two small crappy switches in there. I want to replace them both
>with new 600w dimmer switches. But all I have is 3 inches wide to deal
>with in the granite, about an inch less than what is needed for two
>dimmer switches.
>What are my options here? Is it possible to wire all 8 lights on one
>dimmer? But then I have extra space.

You can always use more receptacles.

> Please give me your thoughts, I
>can provide more details if you need them.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Brian

Posted by RBM on February 21, 2007, 5:03 pm


A double switch box,or 2 gang box, should be wide enough for two devices,
regardless of type, including two "standard"dimmers. Sometimes when granite
or similar materials are cut, they don't quite cut enough to match the box
opening. When this happens you won't have the room for wide devices, such as
dimmers, which is probably why you have one dimmer and one narrow switch.
You could have the opening widened, or possibly use a high wattage dimmer to
control both banks of lights and just install a dummy switch next to it



> Hello, thanks for any help you can provide. Here is the situation.
>
> I bought a house with two circuits of canned ceiling lighting in the
> kitchen - one set of four incandescent lights over the sink and one
> set of four over the island. The set over the sink had a dimmer, the
> other one did not. Both switches are in a hole cut in the granite next
> to the sink. The hold is three inches wide and standard switch height.
> Recently the dimmer switch blew. I took off the face plate and they
> had two small crappy switches in there. I want to replace them both
> with new 600w dimmer switches. But all I have is 3 inches wide to deal
> with in the granite, about an inch less than what is needed for two
> dimmer switches.
> What are my options here? Is it possible to wire all 8 lights on one
> dimmer? But then I have extra space. Please give me your thoughts, I
> can provide more details if you need them.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Brian
>



Posted by Joseph Meehan on February 21, 2007, 7:33 pm


bml@ync.net wrote:
> Hello, thanks for any help you can provide. Here is the situation.
>
> I bought a house with two circuits of canned ceiling lighting in the
> kitchen - one set of four incandescent lights over the sink and one
> set of four over the island. The set over the sink had a dimmer, the
> other one did not. Both switches are in a hole cut in the granite next
> to the sink. The hold is three inches wide and standard switch height.
> Recently the dimmer switch blew. I took off the face plate and they
> had two small crappy switches in there. I want to replace them both
> with new 600w dimmer switches. But all I have is 3 inches wide to deal
> with in the granite, about an inch less than what is needed for two
> dimmer switches.
> What are my options here? Is it possible to wire all 8 lights on one
> dimmer? But then I have extra space. Please give me your thoughts, I
> can provide more details if you need them.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Brian

If you are running close to the maximum capacity of the dimmers, putting
two of them in the same box is likely to result in an overheating situation.
As someone suggested, unless you need the lights at full brightness, it may
be a good idea to use less wattage in the lamps.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit




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