Dimmer switch required

[sparkwright]

Can anyone point me in the right direction for a new dimmer switch?

It needs to be a 1-gang 2-way switch. It needs to be matt/brushed chrome or similar. Or, failing that, needs the module to fit a seperate chrome plate.

The dimmer needs to serve 9 50w halogen 12v spots AND 1 50w 230v GU10 spot.

I've seen some 500w dimmers, but it seems they are only good for 400va of 'lv' lighting.

Any ideas?

 

[winston1]

500 watts seems an awful lot for one room. Glad I don't have your electricity bill! Halogen lights should not be dimmed anyway. It stops the recombination of tungsten working properly.
Could you not get something more efficient like dimmable LEDs?

By the way your 12 V lights are elv not lv.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

They must be low voltage - they are powered by transformer(s).

 

[sparkwright]

500 watts seems an awful lot for one room. Glad I don't have your electricity bill! Halogen lights should not be dimmed anyway. It stops the recombination of tungsten working properly.
Could you not get something more efficient like dimmable LEDs?

By the way your 12 V lights are elv not lv.

The lights were already wired like that, awkward to change.

Not my electricity bill.

You'll notice lv was written as 'lv' - that's how it was written on a set of instructions for a dimmer.

 

[deadshort]

Hi, i would 'bite the bullet' and replace the lot with dimmable led gu10's

DS

 

[JohnD]

How does a dimmer work with LEDs? Not by voltage clipping, I suppose?

 

[ericmark]

In theroy you should not dim quartz lamps, the idea is that the quartz is so hot that the tungsten will not stick to the quartz but will go back to the tungsten element, when you dim them you have to accept a shorter life and the envelope going black as the tungsten sticks to it.

With LED again there is a down side that dimmable bulbs have a lower lumen per watt then non dimmable, and the dimmer must be suitable for LED bulbs, but now is the time to change not after you have blown a number of dimmer switches trying to use quartz bulbs.

 

[ericmark]

How does a dimmer work with LEDs? Not by voltage clipping, I suppose?

The dimmable LED bulb has a very simple driver a capacitor to drop power then full wave rectifier there is no PWM controller and the bulbs are typically 70 lumen per watt, the non dimmable but does have a PWM current regulator and are typically 100 lumen per watt, EU rules say bulbs must have it written on them if they are not dimmable.

 

[JohnD]

so do they need a special dimmer?

(good tip about the lower output, thanks)