Don't Overload the Dimmer Switches in your home?

Don't Overload the Dimmer Switches in your home?

You may unintentionally overload a dimmer switch, did you realize that? If you do, it may get warm to the touch—sometimes very warm—to the point of posing a fire risk. Here's how to prevent it using just a little basic arithmetic.

The vast bulk of dimmer switches have a 600 watt rating. Under the cover plate, directly on the front of the dimmer switch, is where you'll find this number. It implies that the switch has the capability to dim multiple bulbs, such as up to ten 60-watt bulbs or up to six 100-watt bulbs. However, the switch will start to overheat if the combined wattage of the dimming lights is greater than 600 watts.

Although 600 watts might seem excessive, they are actually quite prevalent. Consider a 12-light chandelier that uses 60-watt lights as an illustration. All told, that is 720 watts, which is significantly more than a 600 watt dimmer control can handle. Fortunately, there are dimmer switches available that have a 1000 watt rating per switch and don't require any more space in a wall box for an electrical outlet than a typical 600 watt dimmer switch. One of these ought to be able to manage our problematic chandelier with ease.

But what occurs if you put one, two, three, or more 600-watt or 1000-watt dimmer switches side by side? Each side of a dimmer switch has a small metal tab, which can be seen if you look at it carefully. These tabs need to be broken off on one side of each dimmer when two switches are placed side by side. These tabs need to be broken off on both sides of each dimmer except for the ones at either end when three or more switches are placed side by side. Fortunately, the tabs are scored so that they are simply broken off with a set of pliers. However, doing so lowers the capacity, or "derates," the maximum permitted wattage, of each dimmer switch.

A 600-watt dimmer switch's classification actually drops to 500 watts when one side of the tabs is removed, and to 400 watts when both sides are removed. In the same way, a 1000-watt dimmer switch's classification is reduced to 800 watts when one side of the tabs is removed, and to 650 watts when both sides are removed. To put it another way, while a 1000-watt dimmer at either end of a multi-switch gang would be able to manage our 720-watt chandelier, none of them would be able to do so and would overheat.

This does not imply that all warm-to-the-touch dimmer switches are saturated, however. For instance, some older varieties of dimmer switches that don't use the most recent electronic technology heat up as a result of how they restrict the passage of electricity. To make sure it doesn't go over the switch's rated capacity, it's probably a good idea to add up the wattages of all the bulbs a switch is controlling if it does feel warm to the contact.

White Dimmable Bulbs

Feature

● The colour rendering index (CRI) of a light bulb defines how well the light reflects true colours. A value above 80 is good and close to a natural light. This light bulb has an index of 90.

● LED light bulbs are available with different colour temperatures that make the light feel more or less warm. This particular light bulb emits a warm-white light (2,700 Kelvin).

● The outer casing is made of durable plastic and can withstand temperatures from -20°C to +40°C.

● Illuminates at full power immediately when you turn the lamp on.

● As the light can be dimmed, you are able to choose lighting suitable for every occasion.

Specification