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[Brian H]

Thank you for the photo of the new Soft Start.
Until your post. I have never seen the new ones insides.
Helpful from me.

[pomonabill221]

Here is a schematic of the non softstart wall sw module.

[pomonabill221]

Thank you for the photo of the new Soft Start.
Until your post. I have never seen the new ones insides.
Helpful from me.

You are welcome!  Just note the differences... they are minor but obvious and when you see one, you can tell which one you have.

[pomonabill221]

Here is a picture of the case cracked open and where the big blue cap is in relation to your burn.

[Brian H]

I probably will not see one open.
I have no problem opening one. Closing again is a different story.  

Now that X10 modules are getting scarce and I have moved to a different protocol but still having X10 devices. I would not be needing any WS467s. I still have a few older ones in a storage tub.

[pomonabill221]

I probably will not see one open.
I have no problem opening one. Closing again is a different story.  

Now that X10 modules are getting scarce and I have moved to a different protocol but still having X10 devices. I would not be needing any WS467s. I still have a few older ones in a storage tub.

Yes, seeing that these are rather pricey now, any modification must be done with CARE!!!
Closing them up isn't real hard, just a little tricky!

As far as the cap failing... even IF the .68uf were directly across the line, it shouldn't fail, so I think that the cap shorted internally (failed part), OR something exceeded the breakdown voltage and punched through the dielectric and cooked the cap.  After all... the cap is GONE!  Only the leads remain!  WOW WOW WOW!!!!

[dave w]

It looks like the larger NON electrolytic cap might have shorted.
OR
The "lamp change" switch was making poor contact, and over heated the board and surrounding components.
The larger blue cap is part of the power supply and the smaller blue cap is part of the PLC coupling network from the 120Khz transformer.

I'm sticking with my "power supply reactor cap shorting" guess. If the switch was standard vertical mount in a wall box I think if it was the power disconnect bar switch over heating, you would have more damage to the top of the switch, not two burn spots on back and side. $0.02. Unfortunately I would have preferred it be the switch causing the problem....

One has to wonder what would cause a non electrolytic, mylar cap, in service for almost two years, to short.  Too bad the damage is too severe to see the original markings on the cap.

[pomonabill221]

The one reason ANY cap could short would be due to a high voltage spike that would punch a hole through the dielectric.  Physical damage could make it fail as well, but not likely for a mylar like this as it would be obvious and take alot of damage.
Electrolytics can fail due to the dielectric drying out (usually results in very low value or open).
Of course, age could do that too, but I doubt the mylar cap, being sealed with an epoxy coating, would do that.
Like I said also, even if the cap were to go directly across the line, being a high voltage rating cap, it should survive.  After all, these kind of caps are used for noise suppression as well (see X10 signal suckers) and are across the line.
Yes, I doubt the switch got hot and failed... just a guess.

[pomonabill221]

It looks like the larger NON electrolytic cap might have shorted.
OR
The "lamp change" switch was making poor contact, and over heated the board and surrounding components.
The larger blue cap is part of the power supply and the smaller blue cap is part of the PLC coupling network from the 120Khz transformer.

I'm sticking with my "power supply reactor cap shorting" guess. If the switch was standard vertical mount in a wall box I think if it was the power disconnect bar switch over heating, you would have more damage to the top of the switch, not two burn spots on back and side. $0.02. Unfortunately I would have preferred it be the switch causing the problem....

One has to wonder what would cause a non electrolytic, mylar cap, in service for almost two years, to short.  Too bad the damage is too severe to see the original markings on the cap.

When you say power supply reactor cap, do you mean the 220uf electrolytic?  IF that shorted, the only thing that would happen is the module wouldn't work.  IF it opened, same thing... no workee.
The 22 ohm resistor MAY cook but the V- is about 18volts dc, and another 10% drop across the 22 ohm shouldn't make the resistor get that much warmer (even though it runs hot as is, probably why they went with 2 10 in series, to reduce the power dissipation on the resistors).
But we will never know exactly what happened... too bad!
BTW.... are you SURE that ONLY two 40watt incandescent lamps were on the dimmer??? no CFL's or ceiling fan?
Those are reactive loads and COULD create higher voltage spikes on the load side of the triac that COULD damage things.
I have many old style wall switches for years, and have (gasp) run transformers and tried cfl's on them, and have never had this problem.
The ONLY time I cooked an old style appliance module is when I had a floating neutral, and the line voltage went WAY over 120.... popped the varistor in the module due to overvoltage.... THAT was EXCITING and spectacular!!!

[Brian H]

I would also say. Most manufacturers should use a X2 rated cap made for across AC power line use. For their signal suckers.

[pomonabill221]

True the voltage rating should be 2x higher for safety margin.
The .68uf is essentially across the line (through the transformer, 22 ohm, 18volt zener diode).
I just took a look at the big blue cap, and it doesn't have a voltage rating on it, but the part number is 2E684... wonder if the 2 is 200 volts and 684 is 680nfd (or .68uf) (or 68 with 4 zeros, picofarads)(or 680000pf)(or 680nf)... ok, I'll quit  
  It would still be curiously nice to find out what the failure mode was..... another of life's mystery.  
REALLY glad that it didn't do more damage!!!!

[Brian H]

I may not have been clear.
The capacitor with an X2 designation. Is designed specifically for power line filters and being across AC Power Lines.

I bought some when I was using a capacitor across the phases of the house. For a short time.

Also I bought a few surplus Home Settings ZWave modules when Intermatic dropped all their ZWave stuff. Since they are strictly RF. They had a X2 rated cap directly across the AC Power Input Prongs. Kept their noise inside the module but also was a great X10 and Insteon signal sucker.

[pomonabill221]

Ok, thanks Brian for clearing that up!

[bigmac]

Just to clear up a couple of qustions raised......
1: There are only two 40 watt bulbs on this switch.
2: Neither bulb was burned out, connected the wires and both came on as expected.

I know have soft-start decorator switch in there.  i'll keep my fingers crossed!

Merle

[pomonabill221]

I didn't doubt that you only have the incandescent load on the switch... just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything else.
Still curious as to why the switch failed?