Lumilife dimmable LED and dimmers

[Harry Bloomfield]

Two wall lights, fed from one very old dimmer switch. I originally had a pair of tungsten lamps in them but around six years ago swapped them for 2.5w LED's. They worked fine, but the 2.5w on full was not enough, other than for watching TV, so I ordered up some Lumilife coolwhite, B22, 8.8w, suggested to be dimmable.

Swap one 3.5w out, for the 8.8w, it sort of works [1] and is dimmable, but swap both for 8.8w it becomes all or nothing. Obviously the old dimmer is not compatible with the 8.8w Lumilifes. What specification of dimmer switch do I need please?

[1] The 2.5w operates as normal, the 8.8w fails to light at all, until dimmer set to max., it's light output can then be reduced all the way to minimum and remains lit, following the control..

 

[flameport]

Any dimmer specifically designed for LED lamps.
Zano or Varilight being the usual choices.

 

[phatboy]

My experience of Lumlife is that they dim quite poorly - a bit flickery, and don't go particularly dim.

None the less, Varilight V-Pro are supposed to be compatible, and if you have to replace the LED's, they are also good with Aurora Enlite lamps.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Anyone able to comment on leading edge versus trailing edge, and perhaps both being an option in one switch please?

 

[flameport]

Some LED lamps work better with leading edge, others with trailing edge.
Zano and Varilight LED dimmers can be set to either. Which it is doesn't matter - you just alter the dimming mode until the best result is obtained.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Living quite close to a Screwfix and thinking I could always return them if they proved unsatisfactory, I bought two of these - https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-1-gang-2-way-led-dimmer-switch-white/273cc

We have two wall lights on one dimmer, one wall light on another, on the opposite wall.

LAP LED dimmers, which are supposed to offer both leading and trailing edge dimming, expecting it to be installer selectable. It's not, the instructions suggest the switch selects it, itself. Whatever, they do work fine and dim all the way from full, to zero, but the zero point is at around 15 degrees clockwise from minimum - not an issue. No detectable flicker what-so-ever. Turn on and there is a one second delay, before they come on, no matter how bright or dime the setting.

Problem was, the 2.5w LED's were just too dim, even on there maximum setting, for all but TV watching and our old pair of dimmers were rotate to turn on off and dim. These are press on/off, rotate to dim - a much better idea.

Thanks all..