Magnetic dimmer question

Mike P

Active Member
Hi, I have a question about Magnetic dimmers. I have been looking at LED lights manf. by Environmental Lights.com. I purchased a test kit of wwrf5050 LED lights to use for under cabinet lighting. They look good. I got the waterproof test kit(its the indoor version enclosed in plastic). The indoor version is peel and stick. My question is, I don't know much about different dimmers. I plan on using Altronix AL600 power supplies(I have plenty of them left over from installs)Has anybody here ever put a dimmer on the line side of a 12VDC power supply? Here is some of the manf. documentation



Your in-wall dimmer connects to this supply, which can then drive 12 or 24 volt DC

LEDs.


Works with most conventional household magnetic dimmers, except most digital ones.

See detailed guidance about dimmer compatibility at the end of this note.


This dimming driver is part of a family of drivers with wattages from 36 to 288 watts and

DC output voltages of 12 or 24 volts. Choose an output voltage suitable for your product

and a size (wattage) sufficient for your load.


Designed to drive constant voltage LEDs. AC ripple <300 mV. This ensures the LEDs

are not overdriven due to repeated excess current, which is a common fault of many other

dimming supplies intended for use with constant voltage LED systems. LEDs last much

longer on this driver than competing drivers that allow large ripple voltage.


Very easy to wire: 2 input wires from the dimmer on the primary side and 2 output wires

on the secondary side for the load. The 288 Watt 24 volt supply has 3 96-watt terminal

block outputs and the 240 Watt 12 volt supply has 4 60-watt outputs.


The full manual is below if any is interested in these lights.
http://www.environmentallights.com/Files/Documents/Downloads/monochrome_manual.pdf

Any suggestions would be great,

Thanks

Mike
 
Yeah - I have a chinese company I import these from - I've used them in a good handful of places.

I haven't tried to automate the dimming in any fashion - just the on/off... but I've used the standard 12vdc dimmers that everyone uses for these things... they're in the catalog you listed:
http://www.environmentallights.com/12-or-24-V-LED-Dimmer-with-Rotary-Knob-Almond_P5368.aspx
and even @ allelectronics.com: http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/DMR-8/12-24-VDC-8A-DIMMER-FOR-LED-STRIPS/1.html

I installed it inline with my undercabinet lights in case I wanted to dim them for ambiance... but I really just leave them at full max.

I've also bought strips of the RGB reels, and for them I've bought other controllers - like a DMX driven controller, RF remote based, etc... I also imported something from the UK that has RS232 control to test, but haven't gotten around to it.

As for the lights - I've used them for under-cabinet lights, where they look awesome. I've used the RGB lights as cove lights over the top of cabinets. They also make nice toe-kick lights down low under hallway cabinets; above crown moulding, etc. I've even been intending to use some around parts of my landscaping for accent lighting around my fire pit and spa pad - but again, just haven't gotten to that yet.
 
I have the Environmental Light LED bars installed in two places with their 48W dimmable power supplies.
I control them using a SA UPB dimming switch, one 240 the other an 1140.

Because of the way the UPB dimmer works (chopping the peaks), I get good dimming from 0 - about 35 %. There is no noticeable increase in brightness from 36-100. I think above that level the RMS voltage on the input side is high enough and flat enough that the output is full voltage all the time, hence no dimming.

So I limit the dimming range assuming 35 = 100% when configuring my scenes and links.

The switch works fine, there is no humming of the transformer, and within the given range it does dim well.
I only have six 6" bars running on the transformer. There might be a greater dimming range if I had more load on it, but I suspect not.

We use the undercabinet lights dimmed way down in the evening as ambiet lighting. Full bright would be way too bright for this use.

The transformer is built like a tank and heavy.
There is no noise from the transformer on the line.

I love this line of products and plan to install another setup in my laundry room.
 
Thanks for the replys, but my question is, can I place a dimmer on the line side of an Altronix power supply to dim the light strips? The dimmers above look to be DC in then DC out. I would like to use a regular Lutron dimmer wired to the AC input of a power supply to dim the lights.

anybody see any issues or problems with this

Thanks,

Mike
 
Yeah - it won't work in that combination. You need to find a dimmable power supply that's compatible, as it looks like Desert_AIP has done. You need to dim on the 120VAC side before the power gets to the transformer, and you need a transformer that'll handle the dimming on the line side and translate it to an appropriate dim on the load side.
 
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