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Looking for a simple dimmer

post #1 of 8
11/6/07 at 4:14pm
Thread Starter 
I have six small lights with 25W bulbs that I want to setup on a single-circuit dimmer. There's a lot of fancy programmable dimmers out there, but what I'm looking for is something that's much, much simpler...

Push the button, the lights dim to zero.
Push the button again, the lights brighten to full.

Basically, what I want is just a soft-light on/off switch. Does anyone know of dimmer that will do that?

Thanks!
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post #2 of 8
11/7/07 at 8:29pm

Re: Looking for a simple dimmer

Simple and easy.

Lutron makes them and you can find them at Home Depot and Lowe's.

Called the Maestro. Runs around 30 bucks or so.

You see the little dots on the side. You set the dot to which level of lighting you want and when you hit the dimmer it comes to that pre set level. Hit it again and it goes off. If it is off and you hit it twice it will come on to full brightness (assuming you have set it to a lower level of lighting).

Pretty schweet dimmer, really!

http://www.lutron.com/CMS/default.aspx?appID=1023

Chris
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post #3 of 8
11/8/07 at 2:44am
Thread Starter 

Re: Looking for a simple dimmer

Thanks Chris. I actually looked at that one and switches that are similar to it, like the Faedra, but the way the descriptions were worded it didn't sound like any of them would do just a simple on/off fade. But, I guess it'll work, after all.
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post #4 of 8
11/8/07 at 4:20am

Re: Looking for a simple dimmer

I bought the same ones too. I haven't installed it yet but I was able to try it out on the lighting display the hardware had. It's a nice little effect. My switches are behind me and it is IR not RF so I will have to do a little over the shoulder pointing, but it beats getting up, and adds a real nice effect.
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post #5 of 8
11/8/07 at 6:46pm

Re: Looking for a simple dimmer

Brian,

Your welcome.

Nice to know my 7.5 years with the Depot can be used for good and not evil.

They are nice dimmers and the fact that you can set the brightness to any level or just double tap to full brightness is pretty cool.

You doing the install yourself?

chris
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post #6 of 8
11/9/07 at 1:54am

Re: Looking for a simple dimmer

I used dimmers from Lowes for all my video lights but they were all slider based controls. It was a simple matter to find a utility box to mount them in which I mounted directly on my lights. They give me exceptional control over my lighting which I must have for my video business. I think you can still see a photo of one of my lights on this web page but it seems I've let my account expire. I wish they would email me when it was time to renew this thing.
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post #7 of 8
11/9/07 at 7:15pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Looking for a simple dimmer

I live in an apartment, so I can't go drilling holes in the walls or rewiring the outlets. But, I plan to wire a 6-way outlet with a fuse to the dimmer which will be installed in a standard metal outlet box. The box will be mounted in my entertainment system cabinet, and the box cover will be flush with the side of the cabinet. The lights (which are just individual 25-watt spots) will be plugged into the 6-way so I don't have to cut the cords. If I had a house then I'd probably do a more permanent installation, but this is a good and safe solution for an apartment, I figure.
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post #8 of 8
11/11/07 at 4:07pm

Re: Looking for a simple dimmer

You should have no trouble using the dimmers from Lowes or Home Depot to do what you want to do. That's pretty much what I did with my video lights except I attached the boxes to the back of my lights. I used plastic boxes though. I like them better because if there does happen to be some stress applied to the wires going to the dimmer and they come in contact with the box I still shouldn't have a problem. With metal you might get a good shock in that situation.

I just used standard pvc boxes with no holes punched out in them. I think they're called utility boxes if I remember correctly (when they have no holes punched out). You can find them at Lowes too. I put the wire holes where I wanted them with a drill press. You might want to buy boxes with and punch out the hole where you want it. You can also get box covers made to work with the dimmers. This stuff is all very cheap at Lowes except the dimmers where better quality means less interference.

I don't know if you looked at my light or not. The gray part is the box I added with the dimmer in it. The site is back up and running now.

The only problem you might have is that dimmers emit quite a bit of rf energy so your system might pick some up as interference through your cables. Better quality cables should prevent this if they are well shielded. The only way you will know for sure if you're going to get interference is to try it.
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