4 gang box and dimmers

[bdweller]

When finishing my basement, I installed a 4 gang box that has three dimmer switches and a single pole switch (this box also serves as a junction box for a line going to another box). Even though I bought the largest box I could find, the wiring is still a bit cramped. To assure that there would be not shorts, I securely taped all connections. I can't imagine how I could have conserved any more space in the box. I know there are equations to determine the capacity of a box, but frankly, I just don't understand them. And, shouldn't a 4 gang box be sufficient to hold four switches?

Anyway, my concern is that I have noticed that when the lights operated by the dimmers have been on for an extended period of time (over 30 minutes), the area around the dimmer controls on the switch plate gets warm. Is this normal? When they are off, the area around the switch plate is cold to the touch.

Thanks for your help. I couldn't have finished my basement without your help.

BDWELLER

[Perion]

The warmth you are feeling is probably normal :confused: . Wartmth is a wee bit subjective so it's impossible to really know if what you are feeling is "normal" for 3 dimmers stuffed into a 4-gang box but I suspect it is. Most dimmers are around 99% efficient. Depending on the type, they will ususally waste about 1 watt (in the form of heat) fot every 100 watts of load that are being controlled. Three of them in a rather confined space such as you described probably would cause the plate to get "warm" to some degree. Search out "dimmer", "triac", "phase control", etc for more info on how they work.

See http://www.residential-landscape-lighting-design.com/light-dimmer-switches.htm for some more info.

Best regards,
Perion

[Homer]

From what I understand you need to derate the dimmers' rating if you have multiple dimmers in one box. This was discussed in an earlier thread.

Earlier Dimmer Thread (http://www.selfhelpforums.com/showthread.php?p=2239#post2239)

GL

Homer

[mdshunk]

The other option (as far as boxes go) would have been to put a 4 gang mud ring on a 4 x 12 stamped steel or welded box. This, in essence, gives you 2 extra gangs of wiring space, but would be covered by a 4 gang plate. Dimmers get warm. Multiple dimmers get a little warmer. It's just something we deal with. I far as I have noticed, this doesn't cause any particular hazard, but does reduce the life of the dimmer quite a bit. Someone in another thread proposed the idea of revising fill calcs for BIG devices, like GFI's and dimmers. I'm in favor of that.