Hi,

I have a Wierd thing happening with a Hampton Bay under counter, 3 light system, 3 level dimmer. It was a very simple install, after about one week the lights would turn themselves back on after being shut off. I shut it off and 15 minutes later they come back on. I returned the dimmer switch and replaced it with a new dimmer and the same thing happened about 2 days later, I have now returned 2 dimmers and the third now does the same thing.

Have you any idea as to what may be causing this?
I can see one lemon, but have a hard time thinking 3 dimmers have all malfuntioned.

Thanks for your time, Dan

 

Dan: Welcome to the forums! Do you live in an apartment or condo where there are close living quarters? It is possible the dip switch settings on your unit are the same as those of your neighbors, or even one in another room in your house. Change the dip switch settings on your remote and match it to the one on your fan. See if that helps and let us know.

 

Hi Larry,

Im not sure if I was clear, I have under counter lights that are the problem not a ceiling fan. There is no remote, just a 3 level, touch switch. Dan

 

What do you mean by a "touch switch"?

 

The dimmer has a 3 pronged receptacle and is controlled by a switch* that is connected to the receptacle by a wire. *Its a round 2 X 6 and a half inch in diameter button that controls the level of brightness/on/off.

 

Duh, I read your post, it just didn't register with me about the under counter thingy. You mentioned Hampton bay and my brain went to ceiling fan mode.
I have had the same problem with a customer, but we finally came to the conclusion it was the dryness of the air and static electricity causing his problem, as the contacts are close together and only require the touch of a finger to "short" them out and cause the lights to come on. His seem to work fine in humid weather, but the winter it happens again. Not sure if this is your case.

 

Interesting thought, you may be correct.
I live on Maui, I never noticed static electrcity to speak of.
But, if you look at the switch the wrong way, the thing will
cylce to the next position! So, you may be on to something.
If thats the case, I think they need to pull these units.
I have gone through several months of dealing with this.
Having to move the refer out to unplug in the middle of the night.

What I now tried is...
Its been a only a couple of days, but I thought to
use a different recepticle, so far so good. The one I was
using was never used before behind the refer, hey, grasping
at straws at this point! If thats no good, Im going to rewire
the lamps. Then I will send a letter to Hampton Bay and tell them
whats going on.

 

More information is gleaned as we go along. If you had this plugged into the same receptacle as the refrigerator, you could very well be getting a surge or other frequency disturbance causing it to turn on, or go to the next cycle. Let us know how it goes with changing the plug location.

 

Well, all very interesting.

After several days plugged into a different receptacle there has not been one occurrence. It would seem the refer was causing a frequency disturbance.
The jury is still out but so far so good. My next concern, I have to plugin back behind the refer because im running an extention cord at the moment and thats not going to work. Do you know of any device, surge protector, etc, that would stop the frequency disturbance? What do you think?