[SML] Dimmer Questions

[Dan Sheehan]

I'm sure others will chime in,
but here's my recent experience:

Some LED lamps are labeled "dimmable", others "do not use on dimmer".
Pretty obvious which type to buy;  may have to search.
And not all dimmers are created equal.

I've often found that theatrical dimmers
become unstable with very small loads or with LED lamps.
Usually corrected by adding an incandescent lamp as a ballast load.
One 25 to 60 W usually does the trick.

My theatre (building lights, not stage lighting (sigh)
 was recently upgraded to almost all LEDs
at no cost to us on a utility-subsidized energy saving initiative.

House lights (12 units)  went from 120W halogen tungsten
to Philips PAR38   40'Flood, 17W, 2700K, 1170 lumen.
They are stable on the existing (manual wall control) dimmer,
but they don't dim down very low without shutting off.
Might be the built-in switch in the dimmer.
On my wish list to investigate.

You probably want the 2700K in a church.

Lobby has a chandelier with about a dozen candelabra lamps,now LEDs.
and one ceiling fixture in a vestibule with two standard base lamps.
Wall-box manual dimmer (claims to be LED compatible).
Recently started flickering.  Replaced the one (9W?) lamp
with a 60W tungsten, now is stable & dims pretty nicely (for lobby use).

Another place I work in had house lights on the theatrical dimming system
(old ETC Unison with D20E modules).  About 6 lamps per circuit.
They wen to LED lamps (don't have the lamp spec)
and got severe flickering.
Replaced one lamp in  each with the original tungsten, worked OK.

HTH

-- 
...Dan Sheehan
Fixer of things that break
TD Walpole (MA) Footlighters
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