What is a non-dimmable light?

Cardinal-Red · 4 December 2017 at 5:03PM

We bought two lights from B&Q that use G9 bulbs:

http://www.diy.com/departments/mantus-chrome-effect-5-lamp-ceiling-light/1702673_BQ.prd?icamp=recs&rrec=true

We then put 5 9W bulbs in each, which gave us an incredibly bright room.

Our solution was to fit a dimmer:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0089V5FUM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

To my untrained eye this seemed to be the correct match for us and the W load was within range.

However when we fitted the switch, the metal plate got so hot that it was impossible to touch. Also the "on/off" switch did not work consistently.

My first instinct is a broken switch, but we then noticed on the light itself it says non-dimmable; the bulbs however are.

I had no idea there was such a thing as a non-dimmable light, instead thinking it just distributed the power sent to it by the switch.

So before I spend more money on another switch, is it possible that a light fitting can be "non-dimmable"?

[Deleted User] · 4 December 2017 at 5:10PM

Yes, to have dimmable light, both the light bulbs, switch and light fitting all need to be dimmable.

Grenage · 4 December 2017 at 5:11PM

LED bulbs won't be dimmable unless explicitly stated; just swap them for dimmable models. The light fitting is unlikely to contain more than a connector block to split the power, so that shouldn't be an issue.