My condo came with these dimmer switches. You push once on up or down to fade the lights in or out fully, or press and hold to fade the lights slowly, releasing to set the light amount. I don't know the brand. The switches always glow green (not only when the light is switched on).
As you'd expect, the top outlet of one room is switched. I brilliantly plugged a kettle into that outlet, which seems to have tripped an internal breaker in the switch. It now flashes red.
In an attempt to reset the breaker, I've tried various patterns of pressing the button, pressing and holding, pressing both up and down. Nothing seems to have worked. I poked at the clear peg at the bottom of the switch, but it doesn't seem like it's an actionable button.
I have had to reset this breaker once before, just tapping up worked.
Any ideas on how I could reset this breaker, assuming it is an internal breaker?
I'd also love a brand name and model, or even a manual reference I can read on my own, if anyone recognizes what this is.
(I removed the kettle and moved it to a non-switched receptacle.)
Best Answer
It was installed illegally. That's why it failed.
Your plugging a kettle in there was reasonable.
Switched receptacles for lighting are legal. What's illegal is placing a dimmer on a receptacle, and what happened to you is precisely the reason it is illegal.
Now if you really, really want to dim a socket, you can use a magic, specially keyed receptacle that only accepts special "magic" lamp plugs (which you then put on your lamp). That's what they should have done.
You don't need to replace with an identical dimmer. The rectangle shape is called a "Decora cover". Most dimmers are compatible with it as are many plain switches. You'll need to decide whether to put a plain switch here; or put a dimmer and the above receptacle kit.
Since this is the condo's mess-up, I would ask them to pay for it.