Advantages and disadvantages of mains dimming Please therefore always check and adhere to the manufacturer’s rating for LED dimming. This means that while the dimmer may show a rating of 400W, the LED dimming rating could be 100W. LED light dimmers therefore are de-rated for use with LED products. This does not change the overall power consumption at all, so LEDs are still big energy-savers, but it does mean that a dimmer will ‘see’ them as having a higher wattage. When LED drivers are first switched on, they draw a large amount of current for a very short time, until the capacitors inside them have charged. But it’s not necessary to worry about this as the Varilight V-PRO dimmers we recommend for all our LED Panel TRIAC dimmable drivers are compatible with both Leading Edge and Trailing Edge drivers. Mains dimming can be split into two types – Leading Edge and Trailing Edge. Mains dimming is achieved by switching off the power for a period twice in every wave, one for each cycle of current. As the current from the mains is alternating, switching from positive to negative every cycle, there are 100 cycles of current per second: 50 positive and 50 negative. That means this wave is repeated 50 times a second. The power from the mains in the UK comes in a wave with a frequency of 50Hz. Since our eyes cannot process the rapid switching, our brain interprets this as a steady, dimmed light source. The light is on and off at full power, but less light is delivered in total compared to if it was on the whole time. The result of this rapid switching is that less power is available to the light as the power is off for part of each second. It does this by switching the electric current on and off several times a second. Mains dimming works by chopping up the electrical signal from the mains. They have a knob you can twist anticlockwise or clockwise to decrease or increase the light output and push in to switch the light on and off. Mains dimmers tend to be rotary and are what you would find on a wall in place of a light switch. This will be familiar to many people, as it’s the method generally used in homes. Once that’s all sorted, it’s simply a case of taking a look through our dimmer range choosing your dimming method. Most LED panels are sold with a non-dimmable driver, as a dimmable driver must include more electronics which adds cost. When it comes to introducing dimming to your lighting setup, make sure that the LED panel, or more specifically the driver, is dimmable. But by following our guidance, dimming LEDs can work for you and become a great way to make even bigger energy savings and control your lighting environment. Dimming LEDs is not as simple as dimming incandescent bulbs.
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