LED bulb on conventional dimmer 9 January at 12:54PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 7 replies 155 views

movilogo

I have fitted a LED bulb on a conventional dimmer switch (designed for traditional incandescent bulb). 

Yes, I know that it won't be dimmable and I am happy with that. I noticed that as soon as I turn the dimmer from off position the LED bulb is on with full brightness. That's what I want.

My question is whether it is going to blow away the fuse or circuit breaker anywhere later. 

ThisIsWeird

Unlikely.

It may reduce the life of the LED if you hover around the triggering point - the lamp can then flash and flicker, and I imagine it isn't doing it any good!

I think the worst that could happen is that it reduces the life of the LED lamp, or possibly even the dimmer. This tends to be a bit of a lottery, as some lamps and dimmers are more susceptible and many will survive just fine, but I wouldn't anticipate anything worse such as fuse blows or trips.

(Unless the lamp or dimmer fails in a spectacular way...)

BUFF

my experience says that the LED lamp will fail rather than the fuse/cb etc. Depending upon the style & how many lamps are controlled from the 1 switch it can get expensive - enough to make replacing the dimmer worthwhile ...

ThisIsWeird

It's a gamble, no question. I have a three-lamp ceiling light in my hallway, on a dimmer. One of the lamps is a dimmable LED, and the other two are non-dim LEDs. The dimmable one operates as normal - dims as required - but the other two light up at full brightness above a trigger level, flash when on the trigger, and go off when below. Until summat blows, I'm happy...

hareng

Have had a few dimmers go over the years, in fact one yesterday running two led's for about 2 years.

Jonboy_1984

Had three dimmable LEDs on an older dimmer switch. They flashed like lightning each time they were turned off, it turned out the dimmer switch had a minimum wattage to work effectively and the three LED’s were not enough to drive it.

The switch had its wattage range stamped on the back.

Arfa__

If you only want the bulb to be fully on or off, why not just swap the dimmer switch with a traditional rocker switch? Problem solved. It'll only cost you less than £2 from Screwfix, B&Q, Homebase etc. and it will be a 5 min job to swap it over. You don't need to be a qualified electrician, just a screwdriver.

ThisIsWeird

Far too sensible, Arfa.