Light dimmer dimming itself

[motora2000]

Hello

I have 6 LED lights in our living room, with a total wattage greater than that of the minimum required as stated on the dimmer.

They’ve been working fine for 6 months or so, but over the past few weeks, when dimmed, they momentarily dim themselves at seemingly random times. So I tend to keep them at full power to prevent this happening.

It’s been suggested that it’s a problem with the dimmer – may need a new dimmer module, someone in a shop said.

I don’t have much experience with electrics, though keen to try myself to fix it. Is this recommended?! Does it sound like a new dimmer module is needed? Is a “dimmer module” different from a “dimmer”?

Thanks!

 

[Taylortwocities]

A dimmer module is just the dimmer bit, without the back plate and knob.
In your situation I always use lo-watt dimmers that are specifically made to work with LEDCFL lamps. Like this http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/VLJP400MOD.html

 

[JohnW2]

Is the wattage of the LED's greater than the minimum for the dimmer at full brightness, or even at minimum brightness? If not, this is likely your issue.

I would presume that when manufacturers state the minimum load for a dimmer, they are referring to the wattage at full brightness. If they meant the wattage at minimum (dimmed) wattage (close to zero with some dimmers!), it would probably rarely be possible to satisfy the requirement! Having said that, dimming LEDs can be a pretty troublesome business, with quite a lot of fussiness regarding the dimmer/LED driver compatability.The OP wrote:

I have 6 LED lights in our living room, with a total wattage greater than that of the minimum required as stated on the dimmer.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ricicle]

I take it this is a manual dimmer rather than touch/IR?

 

[motora2000]

Thanks for the replies. I'll clarify what I have as I actually made a mistake and my post could do with a bit more detail.

I have 6 lights up on the ceiling, 5 of them are LEDs at 5 or 6 watts each, and one is a halogen at about 35 watts. I installed the one halogen to exceed the dimmer's stated minumum load. That is 50 watts.

So maximum wattage up on my ceiling is about 60 watts, and the dimmer's minimum is 50 watts.

The dimmer is a manual one, turn the knob to increase/decrease brightness.

So i put these bulbs in around Feb time, and have been dimming Ok since then apart from the past few weeks when the problem I describe has come into play. About a week ago, i replaced one of the LEDs with another halogen to make the total maximum wattage on my ceiling up to approx 90 watts, but the problem still exists. So it's fine when the lights are at full brightness, but turn the dimmer down to about half, and they'll start dimming down and up themselves.

The fact that they were Ok for several months (albeit not used heavily over the summer) makes me think it's the dimmer.

Thanks!

 

[JohnW2]

I have 6 lights up on the ceiling, 5 of them are LEDs at 5 or 6 watts each, and one is a halogen at about 35 watts. I installed the one halogen to exceed the dimmer's stated minumum load. That is 50 watts. ... About a week ago, i replaced one of the LEDs with another halogen to make the total maximum wattage on my ceiling up to approx 90 watts

It's a slightly odd concept to add 60-70 watts (or even 35W) worth of halogens to 25-30W of LEDs just so that you can use the dimmer you have. It surely would pay you to use all LEDs and buy a dimmer that was actually suitable for dimming just the LEDs?

Knowing how 'fussy' dimming can be, I would also wonder about what happens if one uses one dimmer to dim a mixture of LEDs and halogens - although I realise that can't explain why things have 'changed', unless, perhaps, the 'mixed lamp types' has in some way damaged the dimmer.

Kind Regards, John

 

[motora2000]

Yes. My thinking at the time was to get the LEDs in to start making savings, the dimmer can be replaced another time as that is more of a hassle.

Is it easy/safe for a non-expert to replace a dimmer? Or should it be left to a pro?

 

[JohnW2]

Yes. My thinking at the time was to get the LEDs in to start making savings, the dimmer can be replaced another time as that is more of a hassle. Is it easy/safe for a non-expert to replace a dimmer? Or should it be left to a pro?

Replacing dimmers is usually no more of a hassle than replacing a light switch - very quick/easy for someone who knows what they are doing. However, when the dimmer was changed (to a suitable one) it would make sense to change to 'all LEDs'. Not only would that considerably reduce the running costs, but it would also remove any concerns about using a dimmer to dim a mixture of LEDs and halogens.

Kind Regards, John

 

[securespark]

whether it was the undimmed or dimmed wattage of the load which had to be above that minimum.

 

[motora2000]

Thanks!

 

[JohnW2]

some unhelpful posts have been removed

Many thanks (even though some were mine!). IMO, there are several other curent threads which could do with similar attention - for the same (in some cases worse) reason.

Kind Regards, John