Need electrical advice-LED Dimmers

[Pappy]

Put a new LED lamp in the kitchen-----it is BRIGHT! Wife wants a dimmer. It's on a three way switch. Question: Will I have to use two dimmers, or will I be able to get by with one? I appreciate all help.

 

[Janicholson]

2 dimmers, and bulbs that allow dimming (not all do) Jim

 

[wore out]

(quoted from post at 11:16:04 01/30/22) Put a new LED lamp in the kitchen-----it is BRIGHT! Wife wants a dimmer. It's on a three way switch. Question: Will I have to use two dimmers, or will I be able to get by with one? I appreciate all help.

There's a sorts of "three-way dimmers" on the market, you only need one.

But not all LED's are "dimmable" and not every "so called" dimmable LED is compatible will every "so-called" LED-capable dimmer.

 

[Steve in VA]

My kitchen uses LED and has a dimmer on only 1 of the 3 switches. Works just fine.

 

[Mark-Mi]

My house has one dimmer switch for two switches(I believe called a three way)which I changed to led bulbs.

 

[Stephen Newell]

Better check the box on the LED lamp first. Some of them are not usable with a dimmer. Another option is many LED lights have a switch on them when you install them that has several light levels you can select from.

 

[whereswaldo]

John T might be the one to answer this. On my old car, the dash lights were very dim so I replaced them with LED's. The rheostat on the headlight switch wouldn't dim them so another car nut said get a 'Pulse Width Modulator'. I installed it in the dash and it WORKS. This is for a 12 volt car, so I don't know if a three-way switch exists with this function.

 

[K Effective]

Our dining room table light is on a three-way circuit, one dimmer. We switched fixtures there to all LED, and I had to change the original dimmer to an LED specific three-way dimmer, as the original did not function properly throughout the full range. That was in early 2020, by now I suspect nearly all dimmers are LED ready

 

[Pete in Holland MI]

One LED compatible dimmer is all ya need. There will be an adjustment to make for how low it will go, as LEDs will get to a certain point and either turn off. Another option, if the new bulb is too bright.......maybe just get a lower lumen bulb instead?

 

[MarkB_MI]

You will replace one three-way switch with a three-way dimmer.

 

[dr sportster]

Only if you have some need to dim from both locations but normally one dimmer. Worst case you walk across a room to the switch.

 

[1948CaseVAI]

If the brightness now is the trouble and she just wants less bright you could simply look at a bulb of a different temperature range and less power. Lots of choices, but as others said, not all are dimmable but the packaging will be plainly marked.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> John T might be the one to answer this. On my old car, the dash lights were very dim so I replaced them with LED's. The rheostat on the headlight switch wouldn't dim them so another car nut said get a 'Pulse Width Modulator'. I installed it in the dash and it WORKS. This is for a 12 volt car, so I don't know if a three-way switch exists with this function.

Actually, AC light dimmers work similar to a pulse-width modulator. Dimmers use a device called a triac that turns on the power for a fraction of a cycle. Triacs can only be used on AC power because they have no way to turn off once they're turned on and rely on the AC zero-crossing to shut off. PWM dimmers use a different solid-state switch (probably a MOSFET) that can turn power on and off. (MOSFETs haven't replaced triacs in AC dimmers because triacs are much more efficient than MOSFETs and don't require heat sinks.