Which type of dimmer switch

Rotary These traditional switches have a rotating knob that controls the light level. Usually, twisting the knob all the way down turns the connected fixtures off. Slide Slide switches are similar to rotary dials, except they use a vertical or horizontal slider button to change the light level.

These controls often have a slide-to-off feature, and some include multiple setting stops that let you quickly find preset light level settings. Toggle Toggle dimmers combine a switch with a separate level control. You can turn the fixture on or off without changing the dimmer setting. Use these switches in rooms where you want set-and-forget dimming control. Rocker Many of these dimmers are similar to toggle controls.

However, some of these products are standalone lighting controls. Tapping or pressing and holding the up side of the switch increases illumination; down reduces it. Tap Tap controls use touch pads or switches to provide stepwise control over light levels.

Tapping the control surfaces increases or decreases illumination. Some of these products have additional controls that let you establish preset light levels and access them at the push of a button. Scene Selector These dimmers offer sophisticated control over light levels. You can preset multiple illumination levels and select them at a push of a button. However, there are a few factors you need to consider before choosing LED light bulbs and dimmers, follow this guide to help guarantee a smooth dimming process.

Check The Light Bulb Check if the light bulb you are about to use is dimmable. Dimmable light bulbs work fine on a non-dimmable circuit; however, non-dimmable light bulbs will not work on a dimmable circuit. You can find this information on product packaging or on our product listing pages. Trailing edge dimmers work best with LED light bulbs and leading-edge dimmers work best with traditional incandescent and halogen light bulbs.

Do The Maths To find out how many LED light bulbs your dimmer switch can support, divide the minimum and maximum load of the dimmer by This means that when this dimmer is used in conjunction with LED light bulbs, the load must be between 10W — 40W.

Using an LED load outside of this range could cause flickering or poor dimming performance and could lead to an early failure of the LED light bulbs. For more information, call our friendly and knowledgeable customer service team and we will be happy to assist.

However, this actually carries with it a host of less obvious but equally favourable benefits such as reduced energy consumption and improved longevity — the longer your light bulbs are dimmed, the less energy they use and the longer they last.

Got it? The proliferation of LED light bulbs in recent years has magnified these benefits yet further, with massively reduced wattages and hugely inflated lifetimes meaning that our light bulbs are now lasting longer than ever before. This would entirely depend on the type of dimmer you have. This assumption is based on the idea that leading-edge dimmers have been around much longer and are therefore more ubiquitous than the newer trailing edge variant.

The best way to avoid confusion here is to check which dimmers are compatible with a certain type of light bulb. Most manufacturers rigorously test their products for compatibility with a range of dimmer switches and the results are normally readily available on their respective websites. Dimming traditional incandescent light bulbs is relatively straightforward.

Any leading edge dimmer carries with it a minimum and maximum load. As long as the light bulb or light bulbs paired with the dimmer sit within these tolerances, everything will work just fine. The most common modules available generally limit their loads to W, W, W and W at the top end and 25W, 40W, W and W at the bottom respectively. The mistake that many people make is assuming that trailing edge dimmers work in the same way as their leading-edge equivalents. This is a mistake — they are more expensive, infinitely more complex and absolutely brilliant when used properly.

Do like this: Add the total wattage of the bulbs you want to dim. Like this, a fixture with three 50 W bulbs has a total wattage of W 3 bulbs x 50 watts. You can use a W dimmer or bigger in this case. You calculate it the same way. Say you have six 50 W lights in a room, but they are split, there are 3 lights per dimmer.

With a wide array of control options, styles, and colors, you can choose from hundreds of stand-alone dimmers. With so many styles of dimmers to choose from, you are very likely to find one that fits your needs. Rotary dimmers are classic, you adjust the lighting level with a rotating knob.

Toggle dimmer switch up and down like a normal switch, but the level of light returns automatically to the last level that was set. Some tap levels have LED lights that indicate the current light level.

Determine the number of switches that control the light group. If only one switch controls the light, purchase a single-pole dimmer. If two switches control a single light or a group of lights, you will need a 3-way dimmer. If you wish to dim your LED Light source you will need to make sure that your LED is dimmable, this will be clearly stated on the box and will look something like this:.

There are other types of dimming such as Dali, DMX, and Zigbee but these are more commonly used in larger buildings with more complex lighting needs. There are two types of mains dimmer; leading edge and trailing edge collectively known as phase cutting dimmers.

The national grid supplies AC alternating current Electricity to our homes, offices, restaurants, pubs and clubs. These two types of phase cutting dimmer get their names from the part of the AC wave that they cut off. Trailing edge dimmers are now the more popular of the two types.