I had line voltage tracks with a dimmer and the dimmer worked fine. I
replaced the track with a newer track, hampton bay, and put in 3 low
voltage halogen light fixtures in it. Now the light turns on and off
but the dimmer doesn't work. Has anyone ever seen this? I thought you
could use a dimmer with low voltage halogens. The light still turns on
and off but it doesn't dim.

In , on 07/08/04
at 10:15 PM, (glen) said:

I had line voltage tracks with a dimmer and the dimmer worked fine. I
replaced the track with a newer track, hampton bay, and put in 3 low
voltage halogen light fixtures in it. Now the light turns on and off
but the dimmer doesn't work. Has anyone ever seen this? I thought you
could use a dimmer with low voltage halogens. The light still turns on
and off but it doesn't dim.

Probably, the dimmer is not designed to be used for low voltage
lighting. Do you still have the instructions that came with the dimmer?
They will tell you if it is designed to operate with low voltage
lights.

Dimmers that operate low voltage lighting are slightly more complicated
and cost a fraction more. I think the manufacturers are trying to hit
the lowest possible price and capture the largest market. For most
customers dimmers are just a commodity -- mass consumers buy the
cheapest one. Since low voltage lighting is more expensive, the
manufacturers assume that these customers will not mind using more
expensive dimmers and the manufacturer will capture both customers by
offering a separate model that will dim low voltage lighting. It's
possible that your dimmer is very old and did not anticipate low
voltage lighting.

There is a lower wattage threshold for inexpensive dimmers. Below that
threshold, dimmers are quirky or inoperative. I haven't looked at any
dimmer instruction sheets recently, I don't know if they point this out
or not. The dimmers I've checked have lower limits in the 7 to 40 Watt
range. (But I haven't checked the current crop.)

You could purchase an appropriate dimmer and move this one to another
area.

-----------------------------------------------------------
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13 (Barry Mann)
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Ive never had a problem, maybe you hooked it up with the power on , and
a spike blew the dimmer. Try the dimmer on something else. Or maybe it
really cant handle it and was a cheap or old dimmer

Since you bought it at Home Depot, go back and ask for a low voltage
dimmer....it's required for that system.

"glen" wrote in message
om...
I had line voltage tracks with a dimmer and the dimmer worked fine. I
replaced the track with a newer track, hampton bay, and put in 3 low
voltage halogen light fixtures in it. Now the light turns on and off
but the dimmer doesn't work. Has anyone ever seen this? I thought you
could use a dimmer with low voltage halogens. The light still turns on
and off but it doesn't dim.

It is a new dimmer that I put in about 1 month ago, but I could have
burned out the dimmer part maybe.. I am not sure how they work, so
can't say for sure. The dimmer worked fine when I installed it and the
old track was up.

glen wrote:
It is a new dimmer that I put in about 1 month ago, but I could have
burned out the dimmer part maybe.. I am not sure how they work, so
can't say for sure. The dimmer worked fine when I installed it and the
old track was up.

I really suspect that the dimmer and the lights are not compatible.
Check the information sheet with the lights first about what kind, if any,
dimmer may be used with them.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

On my LV halogens, I had to use the dimmer upstream from the
120V/24Vtransformer to drop the power to the transformer, rather than
downstream dropping power to the lights themselves.

I had line voltage tracks with a dimmer and the dimmer worked fine. I
replaced the track with a newer track, hampton bay, and put in 3 low
voltage halogen light fixtures in it. Now the light turns on and off
but the dimmer doesn't work. Has anyone ever seen this? I thought you
could use a dimmer with low voltage halogens. The light still turns on
and off but it doesn't dim.

Ive never tried down stream and dought it would work as dimmers cut of
at apx the voltage needed for LV lights.

Yeah you were right. I went back and got a dimmer for Incandescent and
Halogen. I didn't even notice the $10 dimmer I had bought was only for
incandescents. The new $30 dimmer is marked "halogen" so I it worked.
Yeah I bought the cheapest dimmer, cuz I thought the other ones were
just more features, like night lights and stuff, so I just bought the
least expensive one.

It worked immediately once I installed the new dimmer.

thanks for everyone's advice.

In article , glen wrote:
Yeah you were right. I went back and got a dimmer for Incandescent and
Halogen. I didn't even notice the $10 dimmer I had bought was only for
incandescents. The new $30 dimmer is marked "halogen" so I it worked.
Yeah I bought the cheapest dimmer, cuz I thought the other ones were
just more features, like night lights and stuff, so I just bought the
least expensive one.

It worked immediately once I installed the new dimmer.

Halogens are a kind of incandescent and are compatible with incandescent
dimmers.

I suspect the old dimmer died from cheap quality, having its limits
being pushed by the wattage of the load, or from a power surge.

- Don Klipstein )

glen wrote:
Yeah you were right. I went back and got a dimmer for Incandescent and
Halogen. I didn't even notice the $10 dimmer I had bought was only for
incandescents. The new $30 dimmer is marked "halogen" so I it worked.
Yeah I bought the cheapest dimmer, cuz I thought the other ones were
just more features, like night lights and stuff, so I just bought the
least expensive one.

It worked immediately once I installed the new dimmer.

thanks for everyone's advice.

"Halogen" are a type of Incandescent lamp. Some are low voltage and
maybe they marked it halogen in an attempt to convey the idea they will work
with low voltage lamps, who knows. However I suspect the $10. job you got
was just cheap and died an early death. Many cheap ones do.

The price differences are a combination of features, quality and name.
GE in particular likes to market products just a cheap as the no-name junk
and put their name one it and charge extra.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

A halogen lamp also uses a tungsten filament, but it is
encased inside a much smaller quartz envelope. Because the
envelope is so close to the filament, it would melt if it
were made from glass. The gas inside the envelope is also
different -- it consists of a gas from the halogen group.
These gases have a very interesting property: They combine
with tungsten vapor! If the temperature is high enough, the
halogen gas will combine with tungsten atoms as they
evaporate and redeposit them on the filament. This recycling
process lets the filament last a lot longer. In addition, it
is now possible to run the filament hotter, meaning you get
more light per unit of energy. You still get a lot of heat,
though; and because the quartz envelope is so close to the
filament, it is EXTREMELY hot compared to a normal light
bulb.



"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
message .. .
glen wrote:
Yeah you were right. I went back and got a dimmer for
Incandescent and
Halogen. I didn't even notice the $10 dimmer I had
bought was only for
incandescents. The new $30 dimmer is marked "halogen" so
I it worked.
Yeah I bought the cheapest dimmer, cuz I thought the
other ones were
just more features, like night lights and stuff, so I
just bought the
least expensive one.

It worked immediately once I installed the new dimmer.

thanks for everyone's advice.

"Halogen" are a type of Incandescent lamp. Some are
low voltage and
maybe they marked it halogen in an attempt to convey the
idea they will work
with low voltage lamps, who knows. However I suspect the
$10. job you got
was just cheap and died an early death. Many cheap ones
do.

The price differences are a combination of features,
quality and name.
GE in particular likes to market products just a cheap as
the no-name junk
and put their name one it and charge extra.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

Pop Rivet wrote:
A halogen lamp also uses a tungsten filament, but it is
encased inside a much smaller quartz envelope. Because the
envelope is so close to the filament, it would melt if it
were made from glass. The gas inside the envelope is also
different -- it consists of a gas from the halogen group.
These gases have a very interesting property: They combine
with tungsten vapor! If the temperature is high enough, the
halogen gas will combine with tungsten atoms as they
evaporate and redeposit them on the filament. This recycling
process lets the filament last a lot longer.

....when they're run at their rated voltage, because they depend on their
higher-than-normal temperature to run the "halogen cycle" that
redeposits the tungsten on the filaments. But when you run them on a
dimmer at any intensity much less than full, the temperature doesn't
get high enough to make the "halogen cycle" work, and the bulbs can't
be relied upon to live up to their advertised lifetimes.

--
DAMN tax cuts! They're letting money trickle down to people who spend it!
WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. government posted a larger-than-
expected budget surplus in June, propped up by higher quarterly business tax
receipts, a government report released on Tuesday showed.