Our Voltimum Experts answer your questions on a daily basis in our Technical Expertise area. This Question of the Day, on the possibilities of dimming LEDs used for general lighting, is answered by Eaton:
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| Can LEDs be dimmed? |
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Question: Can LEDs be dimmed? Answer: Luminaires are all LV - typically 12/24V, and they are either fed directly with mains voltage and their inbuilt power supply converts this to 12 or 24V, or else they are fed with say 24V via a separate power supply.
Note that LEDs are constant current devices, so - to dim an LED - essentially the current must be chopped. It is therefore not possible to dim a mains LED unit (most are all-in-one integral units) as you cannot get access between the internal power supply and the LED.
Where LEDs are fed from a separate power supply, it is possible then to connect a dimming module (from the LED manufacturer) in between the power supply and LED. These dimming modules can be driven by a number of signals, one of which is a 1-10V analogue signal.
LEDs cannot be dimmed using a conventional thyristor dimmer.
Hence, with the correct LED units and dimmer driver units (1-10V ), they can be dimmed using a grid dimmer (1-10V), or (say) an Eaton MEM studio 1-10V dimmer pack.
To see many more Q & A in Voltimum UK's Experts Area, please click on the link: www.voltimum.co.uk/consult.php?universe=consult.index.questions
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