David Martin wrote in message
om...
I have encountered a very confusing situation with a low
voltage dimmer. Any advice or explanations would be welcome.

I have a dining room light fixture which consists of 7 20W 12V
halogen lights powered through an electronic transformer. When I use
an electronic low voltage dimmer with this, the lights flicker about 3
times a second when the brightness level is turned up. If I use a
magnetic low voltage dimmer, then everything works fine. The only
problem is that the previous electronic transformer burned out after
two years due to the use of the magnetic low voltage dimmer instead of
the electronic low voltage dimmer (according to the guy at the
lighting store where I got the light fixture).

So, the right dimmer doesn't work right, and the wrong dimmer
does work right. Can anyone explain this?

Both dimmers are from Lutron. The transformer is a WAC
EN12PXAR, rated for 150W. To add even more confusion to the situation,
the manufacturer's website for the transformer claims that it can be
used with a regular incandescent dimmer.

-David,

WAC has some clever proprietary technology that does indeed allow the use of
a standard incandescent dimmer with their particular electronic transformer.
Go ahead and use one; it's the best choice -- Lutron or otherwise. Dimmers
designed for magnetic transformer loads are very much like standard
incandescent dimmers but dimmers designed for the usual electronic loads are
quite different. What you have when your lights flicker are two
incompatible electronic circuits fighting each other.

Terry McGowan