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And some LEDs don't like dimmers...Can you not just change the bulbs rather than the whole fitting? You might have to change the dimmer as well as some dimmers don't like leds
And some LEDs don't like dimmers...Can you not just change the bulbs rather than the whole fitting? You might have to change the dimmer as well as some dimmers don't like leds
That's also why traffic lights & some vehicle lights appear to be flashing on film & TV.Wall plate dimmers are invariably of the "phase control" type - they are cheap & cheerful and essentially vary the power delivery from 0% to 100% for an incandescent device like a halogen bulb.
LEDs do not dim - they are either ON or OFF (they don't dim) - you get the ILLUSION of dimming by using PWM, Pulse Width Modulation, where the LED is switched VERY rapidly on for say 10% and off for 90% which gives the ILLUSION (as your eyes have persistence of vision) of a 10% bright LED. LEDs therefore generally need PWM rather than phase control dimmers.
You can easy see the rapid on/off switching of LEDs by spreading out your fingers in front of your eyes and shaking your hand up and down - the fingers will appear to "freeze" just like in a old strobe light - LEDs turn on and off immediately as they are solid-state devices and have no thermal lag (unlike halogens).
Some modern LED units are smart enough to interpret phase-control and change that internally to PWM, but it's a nasty hack. Just do a proper job and change the dimmers to PWM as well.
PWM dimmers should also work with incandescent bulbs.
Except in the showers, I replaced all our MR11/MR16 lights (52 of them) with 230VAC GU10 LEDs and removed all the transformers (nasty things, unreliable). It's worth noting that LED MRxx bulbs often have real problems with electronic 12V "transformers" as the electronic 12V transformers often require a minimum current draw to work correctly and a LED replacement may be 5W instead of 50W, so the bulb may not light at all, flicker on and off, or "sing",
That's becoming a debatable point in its own right, I've been on a big kitchen and utility fit out the last couple of weeks, we had an "electrician" come and replace the main board and do some connects for power, turns out he's not "qualified" in the sense of any C & G's or NVQ's and gets a mate of his to sign the work off, if and when its needed (he did have and use a tester).all work should only be undertaken by a qualified electrician
rather annoying that such a straightforward job is notifiable.
I looked that up, these schemes are ridiculous, 10 days at a training center and 5 days of online learning, WTF, I spent 5 years chasing my assa domestic installer, these are minimal training to do installations in domestic property and are doer's not thinkers
I agree with all you say - the "trades" have become entirely deskilled as far as housebuilding is concerned. Implied criticism of property developers may be unjustified - we, the consumers, chase functionality and low prices.These are essentially the creation of the property developer who wanted to cut cost of house building. They had cut cost out of everything but electricians were deemed to expensive to in their words " throw some wires into a house " so the domestic installer was created to throw some wires into a house for the property developers. Yes I fully appreciate your thoughts on the hours you spend becoming an electrical engineer to understand the underlying theory and complex equations found in Ac electrical theory and gaining an ability to fault find to end up in a world where they now use trained monkeys.
Look at the other trades that are no longer used, carpenters to fit a cut roof are gone and matchstick trusses are the norm, decent plumbers have gone and now plastic pipe and pushfit fittings with no skill required in fitting and no bending of copper pipe. The property developer now use house builders who do a bit of everything to chuck up a glorified shed to maximise profits for the share holders.
That is a phrase I remember from the auto industry, the phrasing used back then was perceived quality to help justify cost cutting. Anything could be made cheaper providing the customer would not perceive it as cheap or actually see it.I doubt it when the alternative provides precisely the same apparent functionality.
That rings bell with woodworking machinery, we complain when a machine fails to deliver expectations but at the same time want a cheap machine.we, the consumers, chase functionality and low prices.
I posted before a cut roof I had done, interestingly they had a price of £6K for Fink trusses, which still required a lot of loose timbers to be cut and shut on site, and was a major compromise on the objective of creating the roof space they wanted.carpenters to fit a cut roof are gone and matchstick trusses are the norm
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