LED Light dimming

[stevenvd 51]

Hello folks,

For a customer we are trying to get a set of philips LED lights dimmable with a standard Fibaro dimmer. they are 5Watt each.

Now on my test bench I have two LED lights connected to the dimmer. When I connect it with the bypass, the flickering is like a disco...

While without the bypass, there is no flickering at all. Now I am just worried, that when I install this that it won't work for very long and that the dimmer will burn out.

Any suggestions, ideas on how to fix this. I have seen many people having problems, but not really seen any solutions. If you have any, please share them.

[Dalle1985 16]

Do the bulbs have a marking saying NEMA SSL6A or SSL7? Because then you shouldn't run into problems with overheating or high inrush.

Otherwise, you'll be fresh out of luck. But I'm guessing that they conform to above standard as it doesn't play well with the bypass.

[stevenvd 51]

I am not sure, I don't think it has these marks. light can be found here:

Please login or register to see this link.

You think the dimmer will burn out with these lights?

[FHC2N 3]

I've put a fibaro dimmer inside an ceiling lamp with an E27 LED lamp. Tested an Ikea 10w and a Phillips 4,5w. Both worked without the bypass, so I haven't bothered testing with the bypass. Noticed however that both the dimmer and led lamp was noticable hot considering the very small amount of effect going through.

Than I found a posting about an Ikea lamp and a meltdown, so I changed to the Philips lamp. Only been using it 3-4 days yet.

Hopefully it won't fail.

I initially thought LED @ 4,5 watt would be a fairly easy load for a 500w dimmer.

I'm fully aware that some products want a real load though.

[Dalle1985 16]

I've put a fibaro dimmer inside an ceiling lamp with an E27 LED lamp. Tested an Ikea 10w and a Phillips 4,5w. Both worked without the bypass, so I haven't bothered testing with the bypass. Noticed however that both the dimmer and led lamp was noticable hot considering the very small amount of effect going through.

Than I found a posting about an Ikea lamp and a meltdown, so I changed to the Philips lamp. Only been using it 3-4 days yet.

Hopefully it won't fail.

I initially thought LED @ 4,5 watt would be a fairly easy load for a 500w dimmer.

I'm fully aware that some products want a real load though.

If you have the chance, try to put a watt meter ahead of your dimmer. Load will be somewhat higher than the rated wattage due to the operating principle of triac dimmers. That is why it creates more heat than you would expect. And the current comes in in peaks with peak loads in the region of 5-10 kW (yes 5000 to 10000 watt - way above the rated power of the dimmer) for a few microseconds at a time, 100 times a second.

[FHC2N 3]

Oh, that is interessting.

I have current meters, and an oscilloscope.

Don't know if the amp-meters can catch the fast cycles though.

For the moment i'm running Ikea 10W. Probably this one:

Please login or register to see this link.

Seems ok, but...

[Dalle1985 16]

You might be able to catch the peaks with the scope, but I doubt it though. I haven't tried it yet myself, but you'd need some nice kit to catch it.

However, the inrush spikes deposit heat in the components and that is why you experience more heat than you Would expect.