Dimming a 2 foot fluorescent tube

[Jon Bridges]

Fitted two 2 foot fluros for a customer but he now says they are too bright. Are there any cheap ways of successfully dimming them? I read that a dimmer switch will work to about 50%, turn on full power and once its fired up turn it down, has anyone tried this?

Thanks
Jon

 

[vernam616]

There is products out there to do it, unsure of the cost

ive never seen one dimmed though

 

[Sintra]

Why not try changing the lamps to a lesser colour of white. eg change from a colour 840 cool white to a colour 827 extra warm white or even sleeve the lamps.

 

[rsmck]

Fluorescent dimmers are usually quite pricey... if it's ALWAYS too bright and the customer just wants a duller light a cheap (if unorthodox) solution would be something like LEE Filters 209 fluorescent tube colour sleeves would work (really intended for the architectual lighting market to change colour or for TV/Film to match colour temperatures but they're cheap and might suit as a quick (non-electrical) fix.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I feel I should ask...

Is this the official forum position:

?

 

[cbw]

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

What happened to DIY not?

 

[Spudnik]

Mr Sheds,

This forum welcomes all members be they DIYers or professionals.

However, we do try to help out DIYers if they are stuck but most of the time, if they appear to be totally clueless, we recommend the services of a local competent registered electrician as with some things, it is noticeable that they are way out of their depth.

More often than not, it is one of our members who visit the DIYer to assist with any issues.

We run a reasonably tight ship here and any trolling gets the guilty parties account removed permanently.

Welcome BTW.

 

[rsmck]

Stupid question - Is this not probably the wrong thread for a DIY discussion? Doesn't help the OP's Florry problem

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Indeed - sorry - I just saw that image, and as it belonged to a Mod I thought I'd ask.

 

[Marvo]

Dimming fluorescents is best achieved by replacing the ballast with a dimmable type. They're not cheap but they work well and will dim 0-100%. If you use a standard leading or trailing edge type light dimmer on a fluorescent it might dim a little but the ballast may also run hot and may fail prematurely, tube life will be shortened and it might flicker or make other weird effects.

Otherwise as mentioned above you could source a white plastic sleeve that fits over the tube and reduces the light output. Obviously this won't be adjustable so it depends on customer requirements.

 

[Adam W]

You could try stalling the customer for a bit, then go back to him in a few weeks and suggest sleeving the tubes or replacing the ballasts with more expensive ones, by which time he'll probably tell you he's got used to the new lights.

 

[aptsys]

They're not cheap but they work well and will dim 0-100%.

Usually not actually. Most are 10%-100%, and 'off'.

 

[Marvo]

All the new generation ballasts I've come across are dimmable 1-100% (obviously 0% is off)

Philips 'Full range continuous dimming (100% light output down to 5% - T5HO to 1%)'

Lutron 'Continuous, flicker-free dimming from 100% to 1% for T5 and less than 1% for T8'

Osram 'Dimming range: 1 to 100 % luminous flux'

 

[bugsy]

DALI or 0-10v ballest and suitable dimmer switch, proberbly cheaper to replace fitting

 

[pmac10]

don't know why you haven't listened to Sintra's advice to fit a different frekkin tube ???????, cool white for example, is harsh but good for certain environments, try something else, like 'white' tubes or soft white, no need to over complicate.