They create a suitable lighting mood and provide more or less brightness in the room depending on the activity - dimmers are a popular lighting accessory. But not all dimmers are the same. There are a variety of different options and different technologies for dimming your lamp. Here is an overview of the skapetze® options available to you.
Different techniques for dimming your light
The functional principle for dimming lights is not always the same. Although the result is always a reduction or increase in brightness, there are differences in how this is done technically.
On the one hand, dimming is possible via the power component, i.e. by reducing the current. These include leading-edge and trailing-edge phase dimmers, which are often used with halogen or incandescent lamps. However, such phase dimmers can also be useful for adjusting the brightness of LEDs. With leading-edge phase control, the current is only switched on with a delay after the so-called zero crossing of the sine curve until it reaches the next zero crossing. The phase cut-off dimmer, on the other hand, works in exactly the opposite way: the current flows directly after the zero crossing and then stops shortly before it reaches the next one.
In addition to these phase dimmers, dimming is also possible using an analog control signal, such as with 1-10V dimming technology. Here, a signal between 1 volt and 10 volts is emitted, whereby at a voltage of 10 volts the light intensity is at full 100% and the brightness at 1 volt is then only 10%.
The most modern and innovative variant for dimming LED lamps or other light is, of course, via a digital control signal such as a DALI interface (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface). This and other smart light systems can be used to network the lamps in the house and control them conveniently via smartphone app or remote control.
In principle, it is always important to pay attention to compatibility here, because the lights must also match the dimmer and vice versa. You should pay close attention to the type of dimmer your lamp requires or choose lighting with a built-in dimmer. If you are not quite sure or have any further questions, please get in touch with our friendly customer service team - we will be happy to help you!
Different brightness levels - from preset to infinitely variable dimming
Apart from the technical functionality, there are also several variants for dimming itself. Depending on this, you are more or less flexible when it comes to setting the brightness of your light. On the one hand, there are step dimmers and, on the other, stepless dimmers. The former are preset brightness levels between which you can dim. For example, there are 2- or 3-step dimmers, which may be sufficient for many people.
If, on the other hand, you prefer to make your own decisions and be flexible, we recommend stepless dimming, which is possible with smart light control, for example. Here again, there are different systems which, apart from DALI, are mostly manufacturer-dependent. This means that you also need compatible light sources for dimming via Smart Light, which is usually specified in the product description. At skapetze®, the iLight, Connect, Casambi and DALIsystems are available. With these, you can dim the brightness of your light and often also choose between colors and warm or cool white.
A wide range of dimming control options
In additionto the technology and brightness levels, with skapetze® you also have the choice of different ways to operate your dimmer. The most convenient is probably operation via smartphone app or remote control, as is also often the case with smart light solutions. But conventional options are also popular: A simple switch that needs to be pressed to dim a lamp. Or a rotary dimmer that regulates the brightness by turning, a foot switchto step on, a cord dimmer to pull, a gesture control, a sensor dimmeror a touch dimmer that you simply control by touch - there really are countless possibilities. Here, too, it is important to check compatibility to see whether your desired luminaire actually allows dimming control.
Overview of dimming the lamps
When looking for dimmable lighting, the first thing to check is whether a luminaire is actually marked as dimmable. If this is the case, a compatible dimmer must be found if one is not already installed. We therefore give you a brief overview here of which dimmer technology is suitable for which light source:
Incandescent lamps: usually dimmable by leading edge phase control as well as trailing edge phase control
LEDs: if labeled as dimmable by leading edge phase control or trailing edge phase control and with DALI interface or Smart Light, the brightness can be adjusted
High-voltage halogen lamps: normally brightness adjustment via leading edge or trailing edge phase control dimmer
Low-voltage halogen lamps: with conventional transformer only dimmable with leading edge phase control dimmer, use trailing edge phase control dimmer with electric transformer
Energy-saving lamps: usually not dimmable, but if they are, the brightness can usually be adjusted with a leading edge phase control dimmer, but cannot be controlled using a sensor or touch dimmer
To quickly and easily find dimmable lamps in the skapetze® online store to find dimmable lights quickly and easily, you can simply set a filter for the type of lamp you are looking for at the top of the page. If you are only looking for a light source, you can access the dimmable versions here and the individual dimmers that you can buy as accessories here. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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