Many times, you would have thought, why is this light so bright? There comes the dimmer to your rescue. They are electronic devices which could be coupled with a light bulb to control the brightness of the light. The technical theory behind this idea is that it reduces the bulb’s input voltage, thereby reducing the output intensity of the light. Various types of dimmers are used for halogen lamps, compact fluorescent lights (CFT) and light-emitting diodes (LED), and Clipsal LED dimmer is explicitly used for LED lamps.
Traditional Dimmer Vs. LED Dimmer:
There are noticeable differences between a traditional dimmer and a LED dimmer, primarily in how both work. In a conventional dimmer, the input voltage is adjusted to manipulate the brightness of the light bulb. Whereas, for an LED bulb, it is not the case. The input power to the LED bulb cannot be adjusted as in a traditional halogen lamp. In doing so, the LED bulb would just flicker and turn off rather than reduce its brightness. The dimmer for an LED bulb is designed specially, so the input power is controlled using control signals sent from an electronic processor called C-bus.
Five Common Setbacks Of LED Dimmers:
Even though there are a lot of advantages of using a Clipsal LED dimmer, a few common problems that the dimmer triggers could affect the users. While here is a gist of these issues, detailed information about each of them is given below:
- Flickering
- Ghosting
- Flashing
- Drop out and pop on
- Dead travel
What is Flickering?
As the input power is adjusted to reduce the intensity of the brightness, the LED bulbs would receive a fluctuated voltage, creating a flickering effect on the bulb. The reason is that the LED bulbs operate with meagre wattage power, and manipulating them would generate flickering. Another common reason for the flickering might also be a loose connection or an open circuit within the dimmer.
Ghosting:
The main difference between a traditional bulb and an LED bulb is that it operates at a low wattage. Because of this reason, when the input power is wholly brought down through a Clipsal c2301 dimmer, the LED bulb continues to glow, emitting a small amount of light. That’s why the term ghosting, as the light bulb continues to function irrespective of dimming completely
Flashing of LED bulbs:
When the LED bulbs are paired with the Clipsal c2301 dimmer, LED dimming occurs sporadically and results in less frequent turning on and off of the LED bulbs. The symptom is called the flashing of the LED and should not be confused with flickering, as flickering would mean frequent turning on and off of the light bulb.
What is drop out and pop on?
If you understand one of these symptoms, the other one is just the opposite of it. The light might turn off when you bring down the dimmer to dim the LED bulb before reaching the dead end. This symptom is called drop out. Whereas Pop on is the inverse of drop out. When you slide the dimmer up, the LED bulb might suddenly turn on with maximum intensity than you would typically expect to increase the brightness. This symptom is referred to as the pop-out.
Dead travel:
The slider section in the dimmer is essential to adjust the magnitude of the input power. Certain points within the slider section of the LED dimmer might malfunction, resulting in the LED bulbs not dimming correctly. This scenario is called dead travel. Once the slider crosses this section, the LED bulb might illuminate or dim suddenly. Even minor adjustments on the impacted sections of the slider would not dim the light bulbs.
Other Common Roadblocks:
There are a few other things which you need to consider while you think of setting up a dimmed environment, be it in your home or your theatre, or your shop. Not all LED bulbs are dimmable. Meaning, most LED bulbs work only for turning on and off pu. While this is the case with the bulbs, not all LED dimmers are compatible with dimmable LED lamps. Utmost care should be taken to check if the LED bulb is dimmable and the dimmer which you buy is compatible with the LED bulb.
To Conclude:
The Clipsal C-bus electronic system is a circuit that serves as the backbone for the Clipsal LED dimmer. Even though there are common setbacks in LED dimmers, compatibility check serves to be the primary requirement before setting up the dimmed environment.