DIMMER SWITCHES – HOW THEY WORK – AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO HOW THEY CONTROL & VARY THE LIGHT OUTPUT

We’ve had many questions about dimmer switches and asking how they work.

In this video we will look at the more common type of dimmer switch that is used with standard domestic filament lamps. This will be the type of dimmer switch that is normally suitable for halogen and incandescent lamps with a load of between about 40 watts and 250 watts.

When we see a dimmer switch on the wall, what is actually going on inside the switch itself?

Gone are the days when a simple wire-wound variable resistor did the job.
If you remember those devices, you may also recall that they started to become warm in use, as the wire-wound resistor dropped the voltage to the lamp.

It’s all different now. The switches use semi-conductor technology, they are safer and more reliable.

We will look inside these dimmer switches and find out what happens in the control circuit as we adjust the brightness of the lamps


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