dimmer switches

[slacky1230]

Hey guys

Currently buying a house and been thinking about putting some dimmer switches in. Now i mainly do pirs etc and never really come across dimmmers. Can a dimmer switch be used on any light or do you have to get 'dimmer' lights? and how do you work out what wattage dimmer switch to get?

Cheers guys

 

[telectrix]

most cfl lamps are not dimmable. they're bloody dim anyway. for normal incandescent lamps, add up the wattage of all the lamps in a fitting, then select a dimmer 25% higher rating. e'g for 200watts of lamps, use a 250watt dimmer or higher. don't forget that with dimmers, heat dissipation is an issue, so fit deeper boxes.

 

[slacky1230]

thanks for the reply. I was just going to install standard spot lights say in a cluster of 4 low watt gu10's. Will these be ok to work with dimmers? I take it the 25mm boxes will be to shallow, what size do you recommend?

 

[telectrix]

what type of lamps? cfl or LED?

 

[slacky1230]

was thinking the led route

 

[telectrix]

you need trailing edge dimmers for LEDs. buy dimmer from same supplier as the LEDs. then you know they're compatible. try a company called LED Hut. ( online )

 

[slacky1230]

thanks mate will check them out

 

[overskilled]

lightrabbit are also not bad (though their customer service could be better...)
Lightwave RF dimmers work well with LEDHut dimmable bulbs, though LEDHut do sell their own cheaper dimmers.

 

[Patto]

Very helpful info there tel, keep meaning to ask about dimmers and there ratings

 

[amlu]

for led spotlights can recommend combination of aurora dimmer and megaman 6w led dimmable gu10... fitted a lot of them, no problem, dimmers allow you to set the lowest possible default setting to avoid leds shutting off when dimmed too much.

 

[TheAlarmMan]

LED tend to prefer digital dimming (0-10v, DMX, DALI) rather than analogue (TRIAC, PWM and trailing / leading edge dimmers). The issues relate to load and the responsiveness of LED. The slipping of the AC/DC sine wave means that the signal degrades and LEds flicker causing significant loss of life at best, just wont work at worst. The load is also so low that many dimmers and transformers will just shut down as the dont see the low load - hence the need to buy an LED approved dimmer even for analogue. You my also find that many analogue dimmers work well from 100-30% but at lower light levels just wont work (same reason as above) or the dimming is not smooth but goes down in leaps and jumps.

Most suppliers / good manufactures will provide an approved list of dimmers, and may will talk you through the options by phone. I have found www.ledlightguru.co.uk or www.shop.ledlightguru.com (same company very useful. They also support trade accounts with great discounts as well as covering major brands like phillips, aurora, Kosnic and LG.

 

[Silly Sausage]

most cfl lamps are not dimmable. they're bloody dim anyway. for normal incandescent lamps, add up the wattage of all the lamps in a fitting, then select a dimmer 25% higher rating. e'g for 200watts of lamps, use a 250watt dimmer or higher. don't forget that with dimmers, heat dissipation is an issue, so fit deeper boxes.

I took all my cfl lamps out the other day and burnt them in my stove burner thing.
Put in some halogen jobs from Morrisways...I can see things now! I need to do some housework.