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Do dimmers affect the life of LED? (self.homeimprovement)

submitted 1 year ago by Tandybaum to c/homeimprovement

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In my kitchen I have a flushmount light with an integrated led. I put in an LED dimmer on the switch and all is working well.

However, I had to replace it way sooner than I was expecting. Is there a possibly that the dimmer is hard on it?

I have the exact same one on another non-dimmer switch that is still running fine. That said the other one gets much less use so it could just be that.

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[–] stealthnerd 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

LED's can be very particular about their dimmer. Unfortunately it's not enough just to go to the store and pick up a dimmer switch that claims compatability with LED's .

Fortunately most LED fixtures/bulbs come with a list of recommended dimmers, at least if you stick with larger brands and not cheap LED's from Amazon.

I know a few in my house require ELV dimmers and those sell to the tune of $50/ switch whereas others work fine with a $10 MLV.

Meanwhile my under cabinet lights explicity state not to use an ELV dimmer and to only use MLV or risk damaging the unit.