New Theben LED Dimmer Dimax 542 Plus

There has been issues with min loads, flickering when on and off, min level of dimming on lamps (sometimes they only dim to 50% if the total output) etc. We’ve even seen manufacturers dimmers and lamps not work together.

Since October 2014 we have been carrying 2 manufacturers dimmers in stock that have been the units used to get people out of trouble when another dimmer has failed.

Eltako and Theben have both done excellent jobs with the EUD and Dimax ranges respectively. In fact, Eltako’s wireless FUD and the new Tap Radio products have been excellent also and have made it very easy for installers with no access to a Neutral at the switch in older installations.

So what’s the new Theben Dimax 542 Plus all about?

Firstly, it’s very small, at under 45X45mm and at 18.6mm deep, it fits nicely into a flush mounted box or can be ceiling mounted easily and fit into a junction box.

It works with R,L and C loads with automatic load detection, adjustable min brightness, overload and short circuit protection, optimised settings for LED, a memory function (the light level at the point of turn off is saved and when it is turned on, the dimmer recalls the level) and a snooze function which is actually brilliant.

Let’s look at the wiring:

Pretty simple stuff obviously but this dimmer has played nice with every LED we have tested it with. So far we have used, Robus, Ledvance, Opple, Energetic, Ever Ready, Ikea and a couple of white boxed lamps. 1 of the lamps had a tiny amount of flicker during the dimming operation but nothing major and had been stable while held at a level.

Loads

So one of the most important parts of dimming, what are the loads. So Incandescent/halogen lamp load is 250 Watts which is ok but it is also 250 Watts of LED which is excellent. So there shouldn’t be many applications this doesn’t work with but the older version was 80 Watts and we often came across people searching a dimmer that could exceed this on an application like a large pendant or “chandelier”.

Snooze function

This is a great feature that was also on the old model also. When the lighting is on a simple double tap of the spring loaded switch and the dimmer will gradually drop the lighting level until and switch off. It is sometimes called a “child nightlight” in Germany but I use it in the evening when going to bed. Quick double tap, brush the teeth, have a quick read and be fast asleep without having to get out of the bed to turn out the light.

We have units in stock and if someone would like a lamp tested, we’d be more than happy to do so for you.

See below short video for an example of how it works.