Hi all,
In my lounge I have 3 light fittings, all controlled by the same switch, and each of which takes two 40W candle bulbs. The switch is an X10-controlled dimmer (no neutral wire).
When one of the bulbs blew last week, I worked out it was time to switch to some low power LED bulbs, so I ordered six of the "warm white, dimmable" version of these:
http://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-bulbs/b22-led-bulbs/new-4-watt-b22-led-candle-shape-bulb.htmlIt turns out they're not quite as warm in colour as the filament bulbs they replaced, but at 4.3W they do look significantly brighter. In that respect, it does appear that LED bulbs have come of age.
However, if I replace all six bulbs, then the dimmer switch gets awfully upset; it makes a nasty buzz, and the lights all flicker randomly. If, however, I only swap four of the bulbs for LED, and leave two filament bulbs in place, then it all works fine, including dimming.
I guess the problem is down to the nature of the power supply in each LED bulb; a combination of low current to begin with plus a horrible V-I characteristic, which is significantly smoothed by adding a resistive load back into the circuit. But obviously I'd rather have all six bulbs the same if possible.
Is this a known issue with dimmable LED bulbs, or do I just have a crap light switch? I'm happy to give up the X10 control feature, which never worked reliably anyway, but would swapping to a different dimmer switch actually help? Is there such a thing as an 'LED compatible" dimmer?