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dimmer one, using led without bypass


3dmanipulator

Question

Hello,

I do have currently 4 led bulbs, with a total of 12 watts, connected to a fibaro dimmer 1.

So far, so well, logically, the bulbs do not quite shut down; But the dimming is wonderful. (As soon as I have a normal incandescent bulb in the circuit all shut down completely, also logical).

In principle it does not bother me that the leds do not shut down completely, since then also at night a minimal light is present.... and the power consumption at this minimum brightness is almost not measurable.

 

Now my question: will the dimmer or the leds harm in the long term?

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Hi @3dmanipulator and welcome to Fibaro forum!

 

I don't know if this will harm dimmer or LED bulbs but I believe that you can solve problem with LEDs not shutting down completely by adding dimmer 1 bypass.

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  • yes thats right, and i do have severall dimmers with Bypass in use.

     

    but the question is: will it harm the dimmer or led bulbs.

     

    notice: without Bypass the total cost of energy in "shutdown mode" will be less then 2€ per year.

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    The dimmer doesn't care. Three wire or two wire setup (see manual) makes a difference, I prefer 3 wire but it still may need a bypass. Bypass 1 and 2 are not compatible. I'm reasonably sure the LEDs are fine if the LEDs glow steady when the dimmer is set to 0%. That would indicate they have a really basic power supply (probably a "capacitive dropper") and they pass a small current that makes them glow. You could use them as a night light. But other LED or CFL lamps have different supplies that cause them to blink. This indicates they charge a capacitor and if it reaches the starting voltage, the power supply starts and turns on the LED. But then the capacitor quickly discharges, the lamp blinks and the cycle repeats. I have never, ever seen published data of power supplies used in this way. But as an electronics guy I do believe this is more stressful and how long it will work might be related to the number indicated on the box: "maximum number of switch on/off cycles". I've never tried it, I have sufficient levels of OCD so I can't stand blinking lamps :-) The bypass supplies power to your dimmer, it too will dissipate some power, but it stops the blinking. No, the bypass is not simply a resistor and/or a capacitor, it's an active switch.

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