dimmer switch with halogen?
- Thread starter shat1
- Start date
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A non-electrician's guess:
It depends on whether your halogen light has a built in PIR with electronic switching,
Most important thing is that the load rating of the dimmer switch is at least equal to the lamp's power rating
Dimmer switches work by delaying the voltage applied to the lamp on every half cycle - so instead of seeing a nice sinusoidal voltage, the lamp is subjected to a steep rising edge followed by a sinusoidal completion of the half cycle. It's unlikely that the PIR control circuitry could work properly when fed from such a supply.
Are you going to say why you want to buy a very bright lamp then fit a dimmer switch to it?
Have you considered using a low energy lamp?
It depends on whether your halogen light has a built in PIR with electronic switching,
Most important thing is that the load rating of the dimmer switch is at least equal to the lamp's power rating
Dimmer switches work by delaying the voltage applied to the lamp on every half cycle - so instead of seeing a nice sinusoidal voltage, the lamp is subjected to a steep rising edge followed by a sinusoidal completion of the half cycle. It's unlikely that the PIR control circuitry could work properly when fed from such a supply.
Are you going to say why you want to buy a very bright lamp then fit a dimmer switch to it?
Have you considered using a low energy lamp?
cheers joe,the lamp hasn't got a pir,i actually want to use the flood light to heat a large lizard cage,it will be connected to a 'dimming thermostat',
what i wanted to know is will a halogen flood bulb dim and work properly?
or do they work differently to a normal incandesant bulb?
what i wanted to know is will a halogen flood bulb dim and work properly?
or do they work differently to a normal incandesant bulb?
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they do work different, they rely on heat to carry on the halogen cycle in the bulb - without the heat (ie. dimmed) the halogen cycle is less efficient and tungsten gets deposited on the glass, blackening the bulb and reducing its life. People still do it though, sometimes undimmed halogens are too harsh.shat1 said:cheers joe,the lamp hasn't got a pir,i actually want to use the flood light to heat a large lizard cage,it will be connected to a 'dimming thermostat',
what i wanted to know is will a halogen flood bulb dim and work properly?
or do they work differently to a normal incandesant bulb?
I've not heared about this derating dimmer switches for halogen, I know that some dimmer switches don't switch efficiently when they're underloaded - symptom is that you can't turn the brightness down very far without the light going off.
Crafty - that's interesting about the halogen cycle, I have a new respect for lamp designers.
I think we can conclude from all this that the glass tube will gradually go black, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for the lizard as black surfaces emit heat more efficiently. As the bulb's going to be dimmed, it's likely to take longer for the tungsten electrons to boil off the filament so its lifetime will be shorter than it could be, but it might still be an acceptable lifetime. You'd have to try it & see.
A better option for you might be to connect a number of (say 3 or 4) 1kW electric fire heating elements in series. This would give a similar heating effect without the lifetime issue (and without the light).
Crafty - that's interesting about the halogen cycle, I have a new respect for lamp designers.
I think we can conclude from all this that the glass tube will gradually go black, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for the lizard as black surfaces emit heat more efficiently. As the bulb's going to be dimmed, it's likely to take longer for the tungsten electrons to boil off the filament so its lifetime will be shorter than it could be, but it might still be an acceptable lifetime. You'd have to try it & see.
A better option for you might be to connect a number of (say 3 or 4) 1kW electric fire heating elements in series. This would give a similar heating effect without the lifetime issue (and without the light).
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