I am a big fan of the LED filament bulbs. Will this circuit mod work for a motion censor ? I have an older stye LED bulb that goes down to around night light status. My mom is happy with that. That's fine because it's a bathroom, but others stay lit considerably bright. Gotta keep momma happy LOL.
I've been trying to figure a way to fix a Lutron Maestro MA-L3T2 switch that I'm using for an exhaust fan in the bath. It has a countdown timer for the fan that I want but the light switch is incandescent. This is now on my to-do list.
I have used a gu10 incandescent 18watt inside the dry wall and all the rest led dim lights work just perfect.Is there any danger of overheating because its inside the drywall?
Could this also work with ceiling fan lighting, provided the "resistor bulb" was wired in front of the wire running to just the fan's light kit (not the motor)? I have a number of Lutron fan/light controllers (same age/family as your dimmer) that I'd love to put to use, but they're all designed for incandescents. The LED compatible models work great, but are 50-60 a pop.
Sometimes this works depending on the type of LED, but other times they still glow or flicker. The light bulb trick works every time and adds only 7 watts of consumption when the lights are turned up full.
Works great. the little bulb is so easy. Avoided replacing my pair of three way dimmers that cost about $60. Can’t remember if you said this in the video, you just need to add one incandescent bulb per circuit. Thank you,
Yes just 1 7 watt bulb is all i used. This is to keep a slight load on the line so the dimmer circuit gets power. Led certified dimmers have a neutral connection to provide the power, but incandescent dimmers just used the voltage drop to get their power as the incandescent filament provided that path to neutral. Adding the little bulb does that. And these little nightlights last like 10000 hours or more.
How sneaky, add a load to pass a little more current to the dimmer :-D. I suspect there will be a mod that can be applied to the old phase angle firing dimmers. Also i think its possible to make your old filiment bulbs last longer with a zero volt crossing circuit, and perhaps a soft start, i think the shock of connecting a tungsten filiment to the mains causes most bulb deaths. The old triac dimmers worked well for so few parts :-D
Okay I know this probably isn't code but the insides of my wall are clear of debris so this is what I did. My junction box with the switches in it had some 1/2" knock outs unused in the top of the box. So I grabbed some of those sockets with the clips on the side that normally hold it inside some transparent lamp and they fit right through the knock out and clipped in nicely so the bulb is outside of the junction box keeping the heat out but it's easy to replace or remove if needed.
Those filament leds would be perfect if they were dim to warm. You can barely tell its a led from a distance, not like with the straight filaments you can tell from a mile away its led
Andrew Denley Yes the same applies to all phase angle electronic dimmers. Just use a 240 volt incandescent night light bulb. What some people do, like on a large chandelier is replace all the bulbs except 1 with LED. This single incandescent supplies the idle current for the dimmer and everyone is happy.
Very cleaver constant load but just a suggestion have you tried the same trick with a capacitor, if not may I suggest replacing your 7w bulb with a capacitor value :: 100nf - 250V - (104J) I don't know if it will work but its worth a try? Bob in the UK
I did and what i ended up with was pulsating lights when off. The capacitors in the led power supply would charge up and then the light would blink. How annoying is that, 4 led blinking away like the old goofy lite p-box kit that radio shack used to sell. Remember those? A large resistor would do the same, but a 7w bulb is dirt cheap, doesn't get even warm never mind hot, will last forever. Little 7 watt night light bulbs would typically last 5000 to 8000 hours. If some day it burns out i will know because the lights will not go out, 1 or 2 will just glow all the time. Has been many years and all working perfectly as they should. That little incandescent bulb and the led inserts in the fixtures will probably out last me.
It does not burn 7 watts when off. If it did the light bulb would be burning full intensity. The bulb is only providing the bias voltage to keep the dimmer powered up. A couple miliwatts max.
Yup, and I explained why I didn't do that if you were watching. Heat. A resistor is a fixed load and will dissipate the current as heat and when running at full brightness will draw more power. A small light bulb on the other hand the resistance drops when the filament is cool to pass enough current when the dimmer is "off" but when the light is up the filament heats up, and as it heats up the resistance also goes up which draws less current. Also because the small night light bulb is in a vacuum, the heat generated by the filament is insulated from the glass, so it only gets slightly warm. Having a big 10 watt resistor is going to produce more heat then a small bulb, and these small bulbs last for a long, long time. That is why they use them in emergency exit signs. even wonder why CFL and LED bulbs all say not for emergency exit signs? Bulbs designed specifically for exit signs are typically 145V for 120v countries so that it runs dim and lasts even longer. 10,000 hours is not uncommon
I don't know why you had to speak to several people at Lowe's to get someone to look for what you wanted. Unless I knew that we didn't have it, I would always look for something when a customer needed something at Superstore. We were told to do that.
It is a 4 watt Bulb to keep a load on so the electronic dimmer works. Of course I could head to home Depot and spend 70.00 on a dimmer that is compatable with the led lights and the what would I do with this one the electrician charged me 50 for when the room. A 4 watt incandescent is the same as one of these bulbs. It will cost me perhaps 1 penny a year to operate.
Where does the title say anything about converting the dimmer? It doesn't. The title says how to make an incandescent electronic dimmer work, which is exactly what this does in the simplest and safest way, providing that you have room in your existing fixture, and in the case of retrofit recessed fixtures there is not only space, but these were made for a hot large wattage incandescent.
![รวมเพลงลูกทุ่ง 6 หนุ่มไทบ้าน ฮิตติดกระแส ชุดที่ 1 l มนต์แคน ไมค์ ไผ่ เสถียร ไหมไทย พี [Longplay]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GD2v1OjMw5I/mqdefault.jpg)
I am a big fan of the LED filament bulbs. Will this circuit mod work for a motion censor ? I have an older stye LED bulb that goes down to around night light status. My mom is happy with that. That's fine because it's a bathroom, but others stay lit considerably bright. Gotta keep momma happy LOL.
Yes it will work for any electronic switch looking for a resistive load.
I've been trying to figure a way to fix a Lutron Maestro MA-L3T2 switch that I'm using for an exhaust fan in the bath.
It has a countdown timer for the fan that I want but the light switch is incandescent.
This is now on my to-do list.
I have used a gu10 incandescent 18watt inside the dry wall and all the rest led dim lights work just perfect.Is there any danger of overheating because its inside the drywall?
What is the name of those swiveling connectors?
Could this also work with ceiling fan lighting, provided the "resistor bulb" was wired in front of the wire running to just the fan's light kit (not the motor)? I have a number of Lutron fan/light controllers (same age/family as your dimmer) that I'd love to put to use, but they're all designed for incandescents. The LED compatible models work great, but are 50-60 a pop.
Yes
You could also use a small X2 class capacitor across the lamp. 0.1-0.22uF should do it.
Sometimes this works depending on the type of LED, but other times they still glow or flicker. The light bulb trick works every time and adds only 7 watts of consumption when the lights are turned up full.
Works great. the little bulb is so easy. Avoided replacing my pair of three way dimmers that cost about $60. Can’t remember if you said this in the video, you just need to add one incandescent bulb per circuit. Thank you,
Yes just 1 7 watt bulb is all i used. This is to keep a slight load on the line so the dimmer circuit gets power. Led certified dimmers have a neutral connection to provide the power, but incandescent dimmers just used the voltage drop to get their power as the incandescent filament provided that path to neutral. Adding the little bulb does that. And these little nightlights last like 10000 hours or more.
Will this eliminate the buzzing from the led as well? Or will I need to get a ELV switch?
Mine don't buzz at all.
12voltvids Ok great, I’ll try it. Thanks
How sneaky, add a load to pass a little more current to the dimmer :-D.
I suspect there will be a mod that can be applied to the old phase angle firing dimmers.
Also i think its possible to make your old filiment bulbs last longer with a zero volt crossing circuit, and perhaps a soft start, i think the shock of connecting a tungsten filiment to the mains causes most bulb deaths.
The old triac dimmers worked well for so few parts :-D
Okay I know this probably isn't code but the insides of my wall are clear of debris so this is what I did. My junction box with the switches in it had some 1/2" knock outs unused in the top of the box. So I grabbed some of those sockets with the clips on the side that normally hold it inside some transparent lamp and they fit right through the knock out and clipped in nicely so the bulb is outside of the junction box keeping the heat out but it's easy to replace or remove if needed.
Those filament leds would be perfect if they were dim to warm. You can barely tell its a led from a distance, not like with the straight filaments you can tell from a mile away its led
Is this the same for 240v UK dimmers?
Andrew Denley
Yes the same applies to all phase angle electronic dimmers. Just use a 240 volt incandescent night light bulb.
What some people do, like on a large chandelier is replace all the bulbs except 1 with LED. This single incandescent supplies the idle current for the dimmer and everyone is happy.
12voltvids thank you, that's very clear. Love your work.
Very cleaver constant load but just a suggestion have you tried the same trick with a capacitor, if not may I suggest replacing your 7w bulb with a capacitor value :: 100nf - 250V - (104J) I don't know if it will work but its worth a try? Bob in the UK
I did and what i ended up with was pulsating lights when off. The capacitors in the led power supply would charge up and then the light would blink. How annoying is that, 4 led blinking away like the old goofy lite p-box kit that radio shack used to sell. Remember those?
A large resistor would do the same, but a 7w bulb is dirt cheap, doesn't get even warm never mind hot, will last forever. Little 7 watt night light bulbs would typically last 5000 to 8000 hours. If some day it burns out i will know because the lights will not go out, 1 or 2 will just glow all the time. Has been many years and all working perfectly as they should. That little incandescent bulb and the led inserts in the fixtures will probably out last me.
@@12voltvids Thanks for the reply
Looks like your channel is safe now ......, that was PROOF of what some viewers can be like....!
You have no idea. The spam filter gets most of the ones that don't get published.
more and more led bulbs are dimmable now, i always use energizer bulbs theyre ace
Thank you for the tip (very helpful) -- but you should state out front that it burns 7W when off.
It does not burn 7 watts when off. If it did the light bulb would be burning full intensity. The bulb is only providing the bias voltage to keep the dimmer powered up. A couple miliwatts max.
Wouldn't a resister inline work?
th-cam.com/video/0CngnPUGD2w/w-d-xo.html
Heh, we know who didn't watch the whole video now.
Yup, and I explained why I didn't do that if you were watching. Heat. A resistor is a fixed load and will dissipate the current as heat and when running at full brightness will draw more power. A small light bulb on the other hand the resistance drops when the filament is cool to pass enough current when the dimmer is "off" but when the light is up the filament heats up, and as it heats up the resistance also goes up which draws less current. Also because the small night light bulb is in a vacuum, the heat generated by the filament is insulated from the glass, so it only gets slightly warm. Having a big 10 watt resistor is going to produce more heat then a small bulb, and these small bulbs last for a long, long time. That is why they use them in emergency exit signs. even wonder why CFL and LED bulbs all say not for emergency exit signs?
Bulbs designed specifically for exit signs are typically 145V for 120v countries so that it runs dim and lasts even longer. 10,000 hours is not uncommon
Do You have to do this for each LED light on the circuit?
jean surowiec
No just a single light. It puts a resistive load and makes the electronic dimmer behave.
I don't know why you had to speak to several people at Lowe's to get someone to look for what you wanted. Unless I knew that we didn't have it, I would always look for something when a customer needed something at Superstore. We were told to do that.
Wow buy a energy saving led bulb and then hook a Fucking incandescent bulb in parallel to waste the power you're saving amazing idea
It is a 4 watt Bulb to keep a load on so the electronic dimmer works. Of course I could head to home Depot and spend 70.00 on a dimmer that is compatable with the led lights and the what would I do with this one the electrician charged me 50 for when the room. A 4 watt incandescent is the same as one of these bulbs. It will cost me perhaps 1 penny a year to operate.
No thumbs down from me. :D
Ya need to learn to use a vice.
I don't have a vice, but do know how to use one. My dad had one on his work bench but I haven't needed one.
Wrong title
Indeed the video shows how works a dimmer for incandescent bulbs, that's all. NOT how to convert a "standard" dimmer to works with LED's
Where does the title say anything about converting the dimmer? It doesn't.
The title says how to make an incandescent electronic dimmer work, which is exactly what this does in the simplest and safest way, providing that you have room in your existing fixture, and in the case of retrofit recessed fixtures there is not only space, but these were made for a hot large wattage incandescent.