Dimmer question

I have a helix t-stat controlling my warm side and wanted to add some flex watt stripes to the cool side which I have extra on hand (no heat in the house at the moment, soon though). I bough this dimmer http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...cStoreNum=4709
and plugged it directly into the wall and the flex watt into it to test it. No heat at all from the flex watt. I tried to then plug the dimmer into the t-stat and the flex into the dimmer, again nothing. Am I doing something wrong or did I just get the wrong dimmer? Help please.

Did you try it with a lamp first just to see if it works?

No :( we don't have any plug in lights right now. Would plugging it in, to say a fan, work to test it? I forgot to mention that I actually have 2 of these dimmers, bought from different stores, and the flex watt does work when it is plugged into the wall by itself.

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Originally Posted by Ksovich

No :( we don't have any plug in lights right now. Would plugging it in, to say a fan, work to test it? I forgot to mention that I actually have 2 of these dimmers, bought from different stores, and the flex watt does work when it is plugged into the wall by itself.

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Yes it should work with a fan as well...I am just trying to trouble shoot where the problem lies. I would try it with the fan to see if it controls it...if not then I would think the dimmers are faulty (so you are missing some instruction that needs to be followed).

Best Guess

Check the connectors on your flexwatt to ensure they are tight and attached correctly. The cord can come loose causing the flexwatt to not work.

Okay when you plug it in where did you move the slide to? All the way up to the top? In other words when the little red LED light is brightest? If you did that's your problem right there. Basically how these work is by exerting influence on how much power is getting through (I know this isn't exactly how they work...just my basic take on it). Therefore when the LED light is brightest (the slide is all the way to the top) you are exerting full control on the item so there is little power to it....in other words...no heat.

Slide it down, so the LED light dims, you are exerting less influence....your heat source will warm up as it receives more power to it. To make this easy to remember put a C (for cool) at the top, a H (for hot) at the bottom, find the sweet spot and make a mark so you know where it will normally be. These things need to be checked twice daily though as you may need to adjust it - it can't self adjust as a tstat would.

Fan motors use speed controllers to slow down or speed up. If you use a fan to test your dimmer, set the dimmer to the highest setting and then turn the fan on. If you mess with the voltage for the motor you might damage it.

Frankykeno: To tell you the truth I don’t remember which way I did it :) With my luck, I did it with it the brightest light on. I will try it again when I get home with the light off. The dimmer will work while it is also plugged into the T-stat correct because then it would not get more power then the helix was allowing, correct?

PythonWallace: thank you for telling me that, I wouldn’t want to have to replace the fan too.

So I got it to work last night :) Thanks for the help, it did have to be where the light was the dimmest. Thanks again!!