Dimming of Halogen lights

[Zulu]

Will traditional dimmers, thyristor based, eg Strand Act 6, dim modern halogen lights, ie the ones you buy at Tesco for your bedside light?

I’m thinking of practicals on the stage, and, of course, filament bulbs are harder to get hold of.

Normally, I’d just experiment, but I’m concerned about damaging my dimmers.

Anybody got any knowledge of this?

 

Thanks.

[Shez]

Erm that's what they're designed to do...

You may need a load lamp in parallel if your practical is low powered e.g. 40 or 60 Watts as some dimmers need 100+ Watt loads to be able to dim fully.

[andy_s]

you might need to check that the transformer can be dimmed effectively.

[timsabre]

I think he means the mains halogens, the ones which have a little capsule within the outer bulb. Should work fine.

[adam2]

If these are mains voltage halogens, the ones intended to replace an incandescent lamp, then no problem, as above.

 

If these are 12 volt halogen, then it depends on the transformer.

 

If you wish to do this regularly, then purchase a good stock of the lamps. Manufacture or import of these lamps is either prohibited, or about to be prohibited, existing stocks may be sold and used without concern. Enforcement of this ban is unlikely to be very effective, and I suspect that the lamps will be available for many years yet, but best to get a stock just in case.

 

 

 

[andy_s]

I think he means the mains halogens, the ones which have a little capsule within the outer bulb. Should work fine.

I googled tesco bedside lights as mentioned in the OP, and the ones I saw illustrated have G4 lamps, which I thought were 12V? but of course mains voltage lamps for BNC or ES fittings are available (currently)...

[Brian]

You can get mains G4.

[Zulu]

Thanks for the responses, folks.

Timsabre was correct, I was taking about the Mains voltage things.

 

You've set my mind at rest . . . the dimming will work, although I also take the note, Shez, about the parallel load.

 

Thanks, all.

 

Zulu

[livewire4989]

Not sure if this is still the case but if you did need traditional "domestic" style (non-halogen) filament lamps you may still be able to buy them under the "rough service" disguise?

[timsabre]

Not sure if this is still the case but if you did need traditional "domestic" style (non-halogen) filament lamps you may still be able to buy them under the "rough service" disguise?

 

"Rough service" are easily obtainable online and I may or may not have a black market stash of them in my garage, but I have not seen any in shops. Definitely not Tesco.

 

[livewire4989]

Not sure if this is still the case but if you did need traditional "domestic" style (non-halogen) filament lamps you may still be able to buy them under the "rough service" disguise?

 

"Rough service" are easily obtainable online and I may or may not have a black market stash of them in my garage, but I have not seen any in shops. Definitely not Tesco.

 

Thanks Tim :)

 

Maybe if / when we leave Europe we will become a haven for people to keep their "inefficient" lamps!

[timsabre]

Maybe if / when we leave Europe we will become a haven for people to keep their "inefficient" lamps!

You'd like to think so but I suspect we will be too small a market for anyone to bother making them for us.Anyway if you don't need dimming, and most people don't, the current generation of "LED filament" lamps is a pretty unnoticeable swap.