Dimmable Lighting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris F
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Chris F

Chris F

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Hope I'm posting this in the correct Forum....I'm getting ready to install some track lightling in my project studio, and I'd like to use small halogen spots or floods to splash some light on the walls. I'd also like to be able to dim the lights for mood when desired. At the Home Depot near me, they sell two basic different types of these lights: one has a track transformer about 4" long, and the other has a small roughly 1" cube attached to the base of the fixture.

My question is about whether halogen lights of this type are dimmable, and also whether these bulbs will make more noise when they are dimmed...I've run into some strange problems when gigging in rooms with dimmers, and would like to clear this up before buying anything.

Any advice - including advice about where this might be better posted - is appreciated. Thanks.
 
Dimmers are notorious noise makers. In my upstairs living room we have a halogen floor lamp with a dimmer on it and if my girlfriend turns it on while I'm in the studio my system lights up like a pinball machine. It's even on a different circuit plus the it's a dedicated circuit with its own breaker box for all studio power.
 
I may be wrong but I think the problem is the dimmer itself. I've seen low-noise dimmers in Lowes and Home Depot. Maybe that's why.

DD
 
yes you really have to search and try to get the right dimmer. Supposidly zero crossing dimmers are the way t o go but I find it's just trial and error. Yes you can dim halogen lights but the dimmers are really expensive.

cheers
john
 
A big cause of the problem when dimming lights is that people use incandescent lights in their fixtures. I just recently put up new track lighting with six cans using floodlights in it and get zero buzz coming out of it when dimmed.

just my two cents.

jim
 
John Sayers said:
yes you really have to search and try to get the right dimmer. Supposidly zero crossing dimmers are the way t o go but I find it's just trial and error. Yes you can dim halogen lights but the dimmers are really expensive.

cheers
john
Click to expand...

I was out at Home Depot again today, and saw what i thought were the correct dimmers for halogen track lights. They were only about $10, which doesn't sound very expensive...how can I tell what the correct kind of dimmers are? (Please don't suggest asking somebody there - the guys I was talking to couldn't tell their asses from their ankles when it came to lighting).


bbbbundy,

What type of bulb do you mean by "incandescent"? Please pardon my own ignorance - I suppose by my own definition, this makes me an "anklehole". :)
 
They might just work Chris - here in OZ we run 240 volt mains power whereas you guys are only at 110. Suck it and see, (your dimmers not your ankles :) )

cheers
JOhn
 
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