I'm trying to replace a light dimmer switch - it controls 8x 60W bulbs -
there may be another lamp on the circuit but if so, it is sealed up in the
ceiling and unused now. The current dimmer switch is a Slater 2000W (!!)
switch - I'm having a devil of a time replacing it and it occurs to me that
I may not need one able to handle that kind of wattage. Am I correct in the
assumption that I would be able to fall down to a 600W or so dimmer switch?
Or am I playing games with my lighting? And in addition - what IS the
general opinion on regular incandescent bulbs on dimmer switches? Any
feelings on the whole "singing bulbs" thing? Thanks for any assistance with
this!

Shaman

If you have 480 watts of line voltage incandescent light, a garden variety
600 watt dimmer will work fine. If the switch is ganged with other switches
or dimmers its capacity is diminished, you'll see a note regarding this in
the instructions. Try using Lutron dimmers, they tend to cause less hum than
other brands in my experience
"Shamenize" wrote in message
news:Jz_ve.110295$xm3.30864@attbi_s21...
I'm trying to replace a light dimmer switch - it controls 8x 60W bulbs -
there may be another lamp on the circuit but if so, it is sealed up in the
ceiling and unused now. The current dimmer switch is a Slater 2000W (!!)
switch - I'm having a devil of a time replacing it and it occurs to me
that
I may not need one able to handle that kind of wattage. Am I correct in
the
assumption that I would be able to fall down to a 600W or so dimmer
switch?
Or am I playing games with my lighting? And in addition - what IS the
general opinion on regular incandescent bulbs on dimmer switches? Any
feelings on the whole "singing bulbs" thing? Thanks for any assistance
with
this!

Shaman

"Shamenize" wrote in message
news:Jz_ve.110295$xm3.30864@attbi_s21...
I'm trying to replace a light dimmer switch - it controls 8x 60W bulbs -
there may be another lamp on the circuit but if so, it is sealed up in the
ceiling and unused now. The current dimmer switch is a Slater 2000W (!!)
switch - I'm having a devil of a time replacing it and it occurs to me
that
I may not need one able to handle that kind of wattage. Am I correct in
the
assumption that I would be able to fall down to a 600W or so dimmer
switch?
Or am I playing games with my lighting? And in addition - what IS the
general opinion on regular incandescent bulbs on dimmer switches? Any
feelings on the whole "singing bulbs" thing? Thanks for any assistance
with
this!

Shaman


In my experience if I keep the wattage of the lamps at 80% or less of the
dimmer there are less changeouts of the dimmer.

I had a customer that was toasting a couple of 2000w dimmers a month. I had
to wait until midnight and then I could go and change them. So I asked why
install 100w lamps and dim them to 50%? Why not install 60 watt lamps and
dim to 10 %. Have not been back in several years now.
I personally like levels of light, not dimmers so my house has a plethora of
switches. Not one dimmer.

If your dimming down to 10-20% of lighting I would go with a 1000w dimmer.

In article , SQLit wrote in part:

In my experience if I keep the wattage of the lamps at 80% or less of the
dimmer there are less changeouts of the dimmer.
I had a customer that was toasting a couple of 2000w dimmers a month. I had
to wait until midnight and then I could go and change them. So I asked why
install 100w lamps and dim them to 50%? Why not install 60 watt lamps and
dim to 10 %. Have not been back in several years now.

Furthermore, lightbulbs operate less efficiently when dimmed. For
example, a 100 watt lightbulb dimmed to brightness of a 60 watt one
consumes about 73 watts. If you're always dimming them, use lower wattage
lightbulbs.

- Don Klipstein )

I have found that all brands of bulbs except Philips "sing" when dimmed.
Some cheapie dimmers probably can make any bulb sing. I have only used
Leviton better quality dimmers.

"Shamenize" wrote in message
news:Jz_ve.110295$xm3.30864@attbi_s21...
I'm trying to replace a light dimmer switch - it controls 8x 60W bulbs -
there may be another lamp on the circuit but if so, it is sealed up in the
ceiling and unused now. The current dimmer switch is a Slater 2000W (!!)
switch - I'm having a devil of a time replacing it and it occurs to me
that
I may not need one able to handle that kind of wattage. Am I correct in
the
assumption that I would be able to fall down to a 600W or so dimmer
switch?
Or am I playing games with my lighting? And in addition - what IS the
general opinion on regular incandescent bulbs on dimmer switches? Any
feelings on the whole "singing bulbs" thing? Thanks for any assistance
with
this!

Shaman

In article s.com, Eric
Tonks wrote:
I have found that all brands of bulbs except Philips "sing" when dimmed.
Some cheapie dimmers probably can make any bulb sing. I have only used
Leviton better quality dimmers.

What I have noticed in my bit of experience in this area:

1. Gas-filled bulbs "sing" worse than vacuum ones. However, I have yet
to see any 120V non-antique vacuum bulbs 60 watts or more, except 60 watt
showcase bulbs about a foot long. As for 40-watters - the "refrigerator"
and "showcase" tubular types have a vacuum, most others have gas. 25 watt
refrigerator and showcase types have a vacuum, 25 watt A19 types with a
coiled-coil filament about 1 inch long have gas, I don't know about other
25-watters. 120V bulbs 15 watts or less are generally, possibly close to
all vacuum.

2. The C-shaped multi-supported coiled filament (known as a C-9) is
usually not quite as bad as the coiled-coil filaments about 1 inch long
and straight in general shape with no supports or 1 support. (Coiled-coil
filament parallel to bulb axis is a CC-8, coiled-coil filament
perpendicular to bulb axis is a CC-6.)
However, C-9 are slightly, sometimes significantly more energy-efficient
than CC-6 and CC-8 filaments due to greater heat conduction from the
filament to surrounding gas by a less compact filament design and
by filament supports.

3. Higher wattage bulbs have some tendency to "sing" more than lower
wattage ones, and the "singing" mostly worsens as degree of dimming is
increased, until the bulbs are dimmed to roughly "nightlight" level. If
you use lower wattage bulbs dimmed to a lesser extent, you reduce
"singing". You also reduce electricity cost of achieving a given amount
of light, since incandescent bulbs have energy efficiency decreasing
significantly as they are dimmed.

4. Try different brands of lightbulbs - results may vary!

5. Try dimmable compact fluorescents, such as the dimmable version of
Philip's 23 watt SLS. They don't significantly "sing" when dimmed.
However, these may not do well with very severe dimming, and if you want
the color to change to an orange "warm glow" with severe dimming you need
incandescents.

6. Those wanting "the best" to the extent of installing entire lighting
systems should consider special dimmable compact fluorescent systems,
which have special fixtures, special associated dimmers, and take probably
4-pin compact fluorescent bulbs maybe of only one wattage. Some of these
dim to roughly "brightish nightlight" level with as low as 1% of full
output. The color is not some romantic fiery warm orange glow when dimmed
severely, but energy efficiency is good.

- Don Klipstein )