flourescent dimmers (1 Viewer)

[RandyT]

Hey everybody I wonder if you could help me out with what i am sure is a basic lighting question, i am in the process of finishing my home theater room ( like it really ever gets finished!) and i wired my four wall sconces to a basic dimmer switch. well when i bought my actual lights they were fluorescent and i found out that they need a special dimmer. does any body know of any good brands and where i could buy them? nobody i have talked to will give me a straight answer. thanx in advance

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I’ve only seen fluorescent dimmers in commercial office buildings. I expect the only place you’ll find the dimmers is at an electrical supply house. And I expect they won’t be cheap.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Mike-Post]

Try here:

Link Removed

Hope that helps!

 

[Chris Lanni]

RandyT...

Bad news...Not only do you need a fluorescent dimmer, but also a dimmable ballast. Those light fixtures do not have dimmable ballasts, I'm fairly certain. You are getting into some real expense to do fluorescent dimming.

Gods Love
chris

 

[PierreAC]

Yes very expensive.

Honestly, get rid of your fluorescent sconces and buy some reg incandescent fixtures and you will have no problems.

I am assuming that since they are in your HT room, they will not be on very bright anyway, so the electricity won't be much more.

 

[Abe Rodrigue]

chris is dead on. get rid of the flouecents and get some indcadecents. Home depot has some halogen sconces that give off a nice light and should be dimmable with a regular dimmer. (I am an electrician by trade and have never hooked up halogen sconces to a dimmer, how sad is that.) But in theory they should work. All they consist of is a filament in a gas, just like a regular light bulb. Does anyone else agree, or am I totally off base? One more thing, halogens are higher wattage (150 watts per bulb), so make sure the dimmer you put in has a high enough rating so as not to burn out. In your case a 600 watt should do fine.

 

[Chris Lanni]

Abe,

Your signature says it all ;?}

Those Depot wall sconces would be a great alternative. Better lighting, also. You are correct in that you can dim a halogen fixture. Two things to remember about dimming:

1) In regards to halogen, dimming is fine but you want to make sure that you let the halogens burn at 100 percent brightness about once a week for a few minutes. Reason is that you want the halogen gas to re-deposit onto the filament so as to extend your bulb life.

2) Make sure that you are only using about 80 percent of the dimmers maximum recommended wattage. Reason is that it might be rated at 600 watts but if you try to max it out that sucker will get hot.

Gods Love
chris

 

[Leo Kerr]

I've heard that there are good flourescent dimmers out there... but the catch is, rather than operating on regular line voltage to begin with, they really need to be running the flourescent tube on about a 10kHz flicker rate, rather than 120Hz. These are not easy to find.

Dimming halogen fixtures is easy. However, I would recommend not getting the basic

 

[RandyT]

Thanx guys, i will just get some incandescant instead appreciate the info!