Low Voltage Dimmer

[Pizza]

I did a job where I installed the owners three low voltage pendant lights. The instructions said that a electronic low voltage dimmer be used if dimming is desired. The owner had the same exact lights installed in a different part of of the house that are on a regular line voltage dimmer. These lights are 2 years old and the lights and the dimmer still work fine.
What can happen if you install a regular dimmer switch on low voltage fixtures? because there is a huge difference in cost between an electronic low v dimmer and a regular dimmer. I went with the low v dimmer just to cover myself.

 

[chuck1727]

low volt dimmer

low volt dimmer

I had some LED 2x2 fixtures that required a low volt dimmer. We didn't have a low volt dimmer at the time we installed the lights and just hooked them up to the dimmer switch that was already there. The problem was that they didn't dim. As you turned down the dimmer, there was no difference until you turned it down past 50% (est.) then the fixture just turned off. They worked fine with the low volt dimmer installed. If the pendants are LED i would bet that it would have the same outcome.

 

[svh19044]

When using a line voltage dimmer with (in this case, specifically) electronic low voltage, there are a couple of problems that can exist. The most common that I see is excessive buzzing from (usually) the dimmer OR the transformer. When dimmed down to a low percentage, a noticeable flicker is also usually present when combining a line voltage dimmer with an elv xformer. You also have an increased amount of interference (which is often not noticeable depending on location and proximity to other items prone to interference). However, the obvious long (or short) term problems are decreased dimmer or transformer life, or do to minimum load requirements, the dimmer won't work at all.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I have seen many low voltage lights work fine with a standard dimmer. I guess it can shorten the life of the transformer. I believe wac had some low voltage transformers that stated a standard dimmer would work fine.