Dimmer lights use a lot of electricity. True?

P

Petal

Registered User
Messages
881
I'm planning to get light dimmer switches for my sitting room. Someone told me that they eat electricity. Is this true? I would have thought by dimming down the light I would conserve energy...
 
Check the wattage. That should give you enough information to work out the maximum that they will use in terms of kW hour units of electricity.
 
Remember that you can't use dimmer switches with CFLs (none of the ones I've seen anyhoo)

Clubman, switches don't 'use' electricity, they only channel it.
 
Pique318 said:
Remember that you can't use dimmer switches with CFLs (none of the ones I've seen anyhoo)

Clubman, switches don't 'use' electricity, they only channel it.
Click to expand...


I have seen low energy dimmers before, they were shown on Grand Designs.....
 
If you think of a 100w bulb, it uses 100w all the time. If you put a dimmer on, then it will use less power when the bulb is dimmed (the dimmer does not get hot, and the bulb is dimmer, therefore less power is used). The dimmer will never result in more than 100W being used for the 100W bulb.

Once upon a time, dimmers acted as rheostats (and got hot) an effectively wasted energy when the bulb was dimmed. This is no longer the case.


I have not personally tried a dimmed CFL bulb so no idea what is available or how effective it it.
 
Modern dimmers do not use a rheostat as a means of dropping the voltage to a lamp but rather use thyristors and/or triacs as a means of "chopping" the sine wave of the AC supply and therfore the RMS (root mean square) output is lowered.

This means that they "use" negligable power.
 
Light Bulb Manufacturers are just beginning to sell CFL light bulbs that will work with dimmer switches.

GE Lighting, for Example, have this to say
"To use a compact fluorescent bulb on a dimmer switch, you must buy a bulb that's specifically made to work with dimmers (check the package). GE makes a dimming compact fluorescent light bulb (called the GE Longlife Plus Soft White Energy Saving Bulb) that is specially designed for use with dimming switches. We don't recommend using regular compact fluorescent bulbs with dimming switches, since this can shorten bulb life. (Using a regular compact fluorescent bulb with a dimmer will also nullify the bulb's warranty.)"
 
petal. it will be cheaper. if ur dimming downlighters just check what watt lamps are in them so u know what wattage dimmer u need. think the highest wattage dimmer is 450 watts.
 
Folks,

Thank you all for your responses. Very informative. I will get the dimmer switches and I will go hunting for the mad bulbs!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top