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Technical Documentation & Support
 

Ganging & Derating

Installations often require the side-by-side mounting, or ganging, of Lutron stand-alone controls. To ensure each control retains its optimal performance and reliability, ganging and derating must be considered before installation.

Ganging

Standard multi-gang
Ganging is the side-by-side mounting of 2 or more dimmers or accessory devices under a multi-gang wallplate. Standard multi-gang installation:

  • Uses standard multi-gang electrical backboxes
  • Uses standard multi-gang wallplates
  • Requires fins to be removed from dimmers for proper spacing.
  • May require derating (i.e., reduction of dimmer capacity). See capacity derating charts.

Custom ganging for Architectural style controls
For architectural style dimmers and switches, it is possible to retain the maximum capacity of dimmers in multi-gang applications via custom architectural multi-gang:

  • May require customized, wider-than-standard wallplates
  • May require wider-than-standard electrical backboxes
  • Allows full capacity (no fins broken) ganging
  • Required for all Nova® dimmers, and for large width (high capacity) architectural controls
  • To determine the custom multi-gang wallplate requirements for Vareo®, Nova T® and Nova®, please use our custom Architectural multi-gang tool
  • For more information, see Planning a Custom Architectural Multi-gang

How to understand multi-ganging & fins broken derating
Examples of standard multi-gang and fins broken derating:
Custom architectural no-fins-broken multi-gang example:

Derating
Standard derating
Derating is the reduction of the maximum capacity (or "load") a dimmer can reliably handle when its side-sections (or "fins") are removed.

Traditionally, Designer, and New Architectural style dimmer controls share the same derating requirements. Most dimmers in these styles must be derated, and the fins must be broken.

NovaT and Vareo have seperate derating rules, and Nova requires custom derating and ganging instruction. For details on these dimmers, please see our custom Architectural multi-gang tool and capacity derating charts.

Side-section & fin break-off
The side-section or fin's break-off is the scored section that runs along each side of a mounting plate/fin. It is designed for removal to facilitate ganging.