Dimming led strip

[electrospark]

Hi, I'm installing some led strip/tape about 14 meters.. This needs to be dimmable but the switch line upto the dc driver is 230v as it would be as a normal switch line. The problem I have is that it appears that the LEDs which are 12v can only be dimmed on the load (12volt) side of the driver which would involve a lot of reconfiguring of the wiring as well as some ugly looking 12 volt dimmer unit. Is this normal with these tape like LEDs that the driver is not dimmable itself? The current switch I have have is an mk grid switch so was hoping to install a trailing edge dimmer like I have done in the past for led Downlights.
I haven't dimmed this led strip on any job as of yet so don't have much knowledge of this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[RF Lighting]

You just need to get either a dimmable driver, or an old fashioned 12V wire wound transfromer and feed the strip through a bridge rectifier.

I've dimmed them both ways without any problems at all.

 

[bernardgreen]

It depends on the type of LED elements and how they are connected on the strip.

Some strips, mostly the ones that can be cut to length, have a current limiter per LED element and the strip is fed with constant voltage. These can be dimmed by reducing the voltage if the current limiter is a simple resistor.

Some strips have several LED elements wired in series with a current limiter controlling the current through that group of LEDs, a strip may have several groups. If the current limiter is a resistor then these can be dimmed by varying the voltage.

If the currrent limiter(s) are constant current ( ie not just a resistor ) then dimming is not possible.

Some LED elements have built in current limiters, some of these can be dimmed but most cannot be dimmed as they are designed specifically to provide a fixed amount of light over a wide range of supply voltage.