My Newell has a bunch of these 12V light dimmers. It seems like they will waste power by converting voltage to heat when you dim. Im trying to decide if I should replace them. If I do does anybody have a suggestion? Am I worrying about something that isn't really a big deal?
Still looking for answers??
I bought a switch/dimmer for LEDs but apparently it will not handle the amperage of 6 of those 10W bulbs that is in the puck lights. Is there a dimmer/switch that would handle those 6 bulbs without using the remote heat sinks?
Thx
Dean, not being a smart aleck, but have you thought about replacing the halogen with LED? Like others, I used the Fleabay/China connection. I was able to get most of the replacement bulbs for less than a 0.50 each. You could replace all the lights in the coach for what you are spending on dimmers. Since the LEDs draw very little current, the switch you have will probably handle it.
Dean, Here is my take on lighting. LED's are great power savers and the later models have good color rendition. They also can be brighter in Lumen output than incandescent but dimming at low levels causes them to flicker which is (to me) quite irritating. While entertaining, I like lower levels so the glare and brightness (called visual comfort probabilities or VCP's) are not so prevalent.
I changed the main salon to LED and am not happy with the aesthetics while dimmed so the halogens are going back in.
My coach only had one dimmer from Newell so the additional dimmers came from these folks:
http://www.imtra.com/7c3a8b76-557c-444e-...detail.htm
It's a personal thing I guess, hope this helps.
I currently have the walls and ceiling removed giving me good access to those dimmer heat sinks. I'd like to remove all of them if technology has advanced enough to offer replacement dimmer/switches making the heat sinks unnecessary. I plan to eventually install led's in most or all locations but I did not realize the very limited amperage capability of the new dimmer/switch I purchased. I'm concerned about installing a limited amperage dimmer/switch and being limited forever to led's so my thinking is to be prepared for more amp load even if I don't need it for leds.
Another issue is that the controlling potentiometer for the original Newell installed heat sinks is a small Mouser B50K. If I abandon the 'sinks any dimmer/switch that I may install may not fit in the space provided and/or may not be able to radiate enough heat in the limited area.
Incidentally my Newell has at least 10 of those heat sinks hidden in the coves and inside walls.
Thank you Richard and Gordon for your responses. I will try to update you all when I get this decided !!!