Interior Led Spotlights Are Way Too Bright

[andy greenwood]

Hi everyone

The 6 LED spotlights in our camper are way too bright and not relaxing at all. I would like to be able to dim them. How do i know if they are dimmable ? if they can be dimmed, I presume I need to fit a dimmable led driver ? would i need a certain type of dimmer switch or would any do?
many thanks

 

[Fish]

@Deaky

 

[Deaky]

You need one of these CBE Electronic Dimmer Switch - Rainbow Conversions Ltd

 

[andy greenwood]

Thanks Deaky but it says "not for use with led's" on the website ?

 

[Fish]

@andy greenwood mine are VW oem but not easy to fit nor simple.

 

[Deaky]

Bizarre I’ve used them before on LED’s with no issues.

 

[Pete C]

Bizarre I’ve used them before on LED’s with no issues.

Ditto.

Pete

 

[andy greenwood]

thanks guys, if you have used them with no issues then will do for me

 

[DaveyB]

Got two CBE dimmer units hooked up to 2 lighting zones in the van at the moment.
They certainly dim the LED units, however from my personal taste, they don’t dim them enough.

 

[Phil_G]

It depends on how the LED units are internally constructed.
Some use individual LED's in series up to a combined Vf just below 12v then a ballast resistor as a crude current limiter,
these will dim fine with a DC PWM dimmer wired in series with their power feed
The more efficient, more expensive units use an internal constant-current PWM driver instead of the resistor,
these are not suitable for external PWM dimming
Cheers
Phil

 

[andy greenwood]

Thanks Phil, i thought this would be quite a simple job but its becoming quite complicated I'll have to sort something though as when the 6 spotlights are on , you feel like you are on stage

 

[Dieseldonkey]

Could wiring the spot lights in pairs or threes in series instead of parallel not reduce the brightness, or would this be a no no with this type of LED?

 

[Pete C]

Thanks Phil, i thought this would be quite a simple job but its becoming quite complicated I'll have to sort something though as when the 6 spotlights are on , you feel like you are on stage

If they fit, then I would go with the CBE Dimmer(s) mentioned above. DaveyB is right, they don't dim down to a very low level, but they will be an improvement. Happy to share how mine are wired in. In fact you can see them here:

T6 SWB camper build

Pete

 

[andy greenwood]

Hi Phil

Sorry for asking a daft question but does the CBE Dimmer have a built in driver? or would I need to buy one ? I'm now thinking my best plan would be to buy the CBE dimmer and see just how much it dims my existing 6 spotlights. It may just do the job

 

[Phil_G]

Could wiring the spot lights in pairs or threes in series instead of parallel not reduce the brightness, or would this be a no no with this type of LED?

unfortunately not - the simple series-resistive ones need a minimum voltage usually around 10v, so with two units in series, neither would work. The constant-current ones simply increase the PWM duty cycle to correct for lower voltage, until its too low to operate at all
I would remove one of the units and have a close look - a constant-current driver will be obvious, chips & mosfets, whereas the resistive ones will just have a resistor or several resistors if its arranged as a parallel array. Resistive is dimmable, constant-current isnt (well, not so readily)

does the CBE Dimmer have a built in driver?

Its a PWM driver, it switches the LEDS on & off thousands of times per second, and the rotary control sets the on-to-off ratio, more time on is brighter, less time on is dimmer. This is fine with resistive units but confuses CC ones which expect a steady power supply

 

[andy greenwood]

Thanks Phil, they look like this from the back

 

[Dieseldonkey]

I have 6 of these in my roof. Oddly enough, yesterday one of them started flickering for a few minutes and then dimmed to about 50% output of its own accord. Thinking I needed to order a replacement, but today it's back to normal. No excessive heat from it either.

Anyhow, just for info incase its of use to anyone, Evo Design sell dimmable LED strip lights. Touch and keep you finger on the button and it varies the brightness up and down. Tap and release and it switches on and off to the last setting you had the brightness set to. 2 different lengths available.

https://www.evomotiondesign.co.uk/product/700mm-aluminium-dimmable-led-strip/

 

[Phil_G]

Googling the model number found this, which says it is indeed "dimmerabile"




@Dieseldonkey those Evo strips are the ones Hillside fit

 

[andy greenwood]

Googling the model number found this, which says it is indeed "dimmerabile"

View attachment 30274


@Dieseldonkey those Evo strips are the ones Hillside fit

awesome, nice one Phil. Does that mean that all I need is the CBE dimmer switch ?

 

[Phil_G]

Yes, it should work fine. "Dimmerabile"