Electric-Light
Senior Member
With the roll-out of new CREE LED light bulbs, I have conducted a few dimming performance tests on various sources.
The best dimming result comes from signal control such as Lutron 3-wire, 0-10v however for this test, I limited the conditions to two-wire dimming.
Best dimming performance in this test was attained by Osram Sylvania's Quicktronic dimming ballast on fluorescent dimmer. It offered a good dimming range (down to 5%) and no line frequency flicker detected throughout the range.
Philips L-prize did well in flicker, but dimming range was not great.
Fluorescent lighting has been despised for their "harsh" light and flicker. Since flicker annoy the hell out of me, I made it a point to identify it.
I found that high quality T8 ballast with RE80 lamps produced no detectable 120Hz flicker as well as Philiips L-prize and CREE CR6.
Newly introduced CREE LED bulbs fail my flicker test. They're worse than some CFLs.
It was a simple test. A simple patterned top was spun and observed. Something like this.
flicker (infiltration of 120Hz component into light output). Though I do not have access to instruments needed to test flicker as flicker index or percentage flicker as recognized by IESNA, a simple visual test was conducted using a patterned top like this:
http://www.tedmag.com/uploadedImage...ial-report/Special_Report/DSC00618.JPG?n=3630
A perfectly steady source would not produce moire effect. An example is a battery operated flashlight.
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/36/36f3e188-bdb8-40ac-a7ad-ef9ae6c129b6.pdf
I tested some commercially available LED products as well as some fluorescent setups for flicker and 40W and 60W version of the above, CREE CR6, 40W incandescent, and two fluorescent setups.
I failed anything that produced more detectable flicker than a 100W incandescent bulb on the top-spin test.
100% output without dimmer in descending order:
Gas: Magnetic ballast fluorescent (flicker test: fail)
LED: The new CREE 40W and 60W bulbs linked above. (flicker test: fail)
LED: Philips 9E26A19DCAAAA (470lm 8W LED) (flicker test: fail)
100W incandescent (benchmark)
Gas: General Electric F32T8/830 fluorescent lamp with GE232MAX-H/ULTRA =undetectable
Gas: OSI FO32T8/841 with QTP 2X32T8/UNV DIM-TC =undetectable
LED: Philips L-Prize LED = undetectable
LED: CREE CR6 downlight = undetectable
Dimmed state:
Gas: OSI FO32T8/841 with OSI QTP 2X32T8/UNV DIM-TC = no noticeable flicker. Some acoustic noise. Good dim range.
CR6, very deep dimming and no 120Hz flicker detectable, but it sustained random flicker at visible frequency.
CREE 40W and 60W new bulbs: shallow dimming range, significant 120Hz flicker
Philips L prize: shallow dim range, no 120Hz flicker, substantial acoustic noise
The best dimming result comes from signal control such as Lutron 3-wire, 0-10v however for this test, I limited the conditions to two-wire dimming.
Best dimming performance in this test was attained by Osram Sylvania's Quicktronic dimming ballast on fluorescent dimmer. It offered a good dimming range (down to 5%) and no line frequency flicker detected throughout the range.
Philips L-prize did well in flicker, but dimming range was not great.
Fluorescent lighting has been despised for their "harsh" light and flicker. Since flicker annoy the hell out of me, I made it a point to identify it.
I found that high quality T8 ballast with RE80 lamps produced no detectable 120Hz flicker as well as Philiips L-prize and CREE CR6.
Newly introduced CREE LED bulbs fail my flicker test. They're worse than some CFLs.
It was a simple test. A simple patterned top was spun and observed. Something like this.
flicker (infiltration of 120Hz component into light output). Though I do not have access to instruments needed to test flicker as flicker index or percentage flicker as recognized by IESNA, a simple visual test was conducted using a patterned top like this:
http://www.tedmag.com/uploadedImage...ial-report/Special_Report/DSC00618.JPG?n=3630
A perfectly steady source would not produce moire effect. An example is a battery operated flashlight.
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/36/36f3e188-bdb8-40ac-a7ad-ef9ae6c129b6.pdf
I tested some commercially available LED products as well as some fluorescent setups for flicker and 40W and 60W version of the above, CREE CR6, 40W incandescent, and two fluorescent setups.
I failed anything that produced more detectable flicker than a 100W incandescent bulb on the top-spin test.
100% output without dimmer in descending order:
Gas: Magnetic ballast fluorescent (flicker test: fail)
LED: The new CREE 40W and 60W bulbs linked above. (flicker test: fail)
LED: Philips 9E26A19DCAAAA (470lm 8W LED) (flicker test: fail)
100W incandescent (benchmark)
Gas: General Electric F32T8/830 fluorescent lamp with GE232MAX-H/ULTRA =undetectable
Gas: OSI FO32T8/841 with QTP 2X32T8/UNV DIM-TC =undetectable
LED: Philips L-Prize LED = undetectable
LED: CREE CR6 downlight = undetectable
Dimmed state:
Gas: OSI FO32T8/841 with OSI QTP 2X32T8/UNV DIM-TC = no noticeable flicker. Some acoustic noise. Good dim range.
CR6, very deep dimming and no 120Hz flicker detectable, but it sustained random flicker at visible frequency.
CREE 40W and 60W new bulbs: shallow dimming range, significant 120Hz flicker
Philips L prize: shallow dim range, no 120Hz flicker, substantial acoustic noise
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