dimmer for g9 halogens

[paulhod]

I have 2 lights in my livingroom both lights have 6x240v 40w G9 Halogen bulbs. currently it works of a dual gang rocker switch. I am thinking of purchasing a dual gang dimmer to replace the rocker switch. I have seen quite a few dimmers some rated at 250w and some at 400w if i get the 400w dual gang dimmer is this per dimmer (400w per gang) or total for both of the dimmers on the switch?

thanks in advance

Paul H

 

[Adam_151]

The rateing is per side, so 2 gang 400w dimmer can control 800w; 400w on each side, the thing is with halogens, is that you are supposed to derate the dimmers by half to take into account high startup surges with them, etc, so a 400w dimmer is only good for 200w of halogen lights, its just a rough rule of thumb and you should check the instructions for the dimmer and see what they say about the issue

 

[paulhod]

thanks adam

 

[kendor]

One other thing it's not good practice to dim halogens for a long length of time beyond minus 10% as the lamps need to run hot in order to recycle the tungsten back onto the filament effectively and if not allowed to do so then the lifespan of the lamp is drastically reduced.