Can Any Light Switch Be A Dimmer

11 Sep, 2018 Post a Comment

How to replace a light switch with a dimmer replacing a standard single pole or three way switch with a dimmer switch is no different than replacing a standard switch. Most light fixtures will work with standard dimmer switches including those with halogen and incandescent lamps.

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Of course you know that.

Can any light switch be a dimmer. If you install line voltage track and rail lights with incandescent bulbs you can use dimmer switches to control their brightness. Led light bulbs can be used in light fixtures controlled by dimmer switches but you may well find that traditional dimmers may not work or may work inadequately with some led bulbs. Some led bulbs are designed for use with standard dimmer switches while others are not.

A 3 way should be used when one light has several switches but dimming is only needed on one switch. A few of these are shown below. So a standard light switch can only be used to turn a light on or off it cannot perform a light dimming function.

There are dimmer switches of various types that can not only turn a light on or off but also dim the light. With a standard single pole dimmer a single switch controls the light. Most cfl bulbs and cheaper led bulbs are non dimmable meaning that if you use a dimmer switch with them they ll just flicker until you give them full power.

The old incandescent lights were pretty easy to dim because they have a mainly resistive characteristic which is supported by about every dimmer. With a three way dimmer you can control a light with two switches. Leading edge dimmers these dimmers were designed to work with incandescent bulbs and most likely won t work well with led light bulbs.

Trailing edge dimmers these are designed specifically to work with led lights. The dimmer switch is rated for the same voltage as the lighting application. They re the traditional and most common dimmer found in homes.

The bottom line is compatibility. This lets you dim from one location and turn the lights on and off from another. Dimmer switches don t work on most fluorescent fixtures and low voltage lighting requires special low voltage dimmers.

Use standard dimmers on 120 line voltage and low voltage dimmers for 12v and 24v applications. Any dimmer switch is compatible with incandescent or halogen light bulbs as the following conditions are met. So when you re shopping for light bulbs make sure that they can be used with dimmer switches it should say on the packaging.

You will need a three way dimmer and a three way switch. Single poles are specifically for light fixtures that only have one switch. There are three options when it comes to dimmer switches.

Determine whether your fixture uses line or low voltage. Single pole 3 way and multi location. Or you can have the same bulb with a normal transformer those bulky heavy things which has an inductive characteristic you would need a dimmer which can handle that.

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