Andy Hall wrote:
On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 06:58:06 -0000, "Grumps"
wrote:

Dopey question of the day....

Are mains halogen lights dimmable (using a standard light dimmer)?


Yes you can, but make sure you leave plenty of headroom on rating -
e.g. don't run 5x50W lamps from a 250W dimmer - use a 400W dimmer
instead.

Even better, use a quality dimmer with soft start such as an MK4500
series and the bulb lives will be increased substantially.

Thanks.
It's early days, but we're trying to find a pair of wall lights. So far we
have found two that we like. Both have 4x40W bulbs. One uses halogens
(mains), the other uses normal filament bulbs. Obviously, this is going to
be bright at a total of 320W, so will need a dimmer.
Is a halogen brighter than a normal bulb (Watt for Watt)?