"Singing" Lightbulbs???

[06FLSTCI]

I have a three bulb (actually it's a three "globe"), fixture in my kitchen. I turn it on with switches that have dimmers built in. It all works great except one thing:

I notice that when the light is dimmed, (not turned on all the way), the bulbs, (globes, whatever), hum. They make a very audible low whistle. I can just turn the dimmer up all the way and it goes away.

These globes and the fixture all are brand new. I assume there's nothing wrong or broken, just wondering if this is common and if there's an easy fix.

Thanks!

[Craven Morehead]

Trying to keep the techno-babble to a minimum here, some bulbs are more prone to this than others. You might try to isolate which bulb or brand is humming. Also, not all dimmers cause this. Usually the more expensive dimmers do not.

Finally, the reason some bulbs hum is....they don't know the words ;-)

[HotRod]

Had the same problem in my last house, it came down to the fact that I had the wrong balbs and that the lights that were installed were not designed to be dimmed. See if you can get some different bulbs first but you may just have a transformer that can't handle dimmed current.

[EXT]

Have found that certain brands of bulbs, particularly cheap bulbs are very noisy. Since you call them globes, you are probably not in North America and use 50hz 220 volt. 50hz will be noisier than 60hz, and also the quality of the dimmer makes a big difference. Here in North America I have found that Philips bulbs generally quieter than Sylvania or private label bulbs (despite the fact the Philips owns the Sylvania plant). Bulbs made in different countries and for different frequencies and voltages may have different performance.

[matt]

cheap dimmers cause the fillament in light bulbs to vibrate...it has to do with the magnetic field increasing and decreasing aroung the fillament. try a better dimmer.

[06FLSTCI]

Actually, I'm outside Boston. The globes, bulbs, (whatever) are GE brand.

The dimmers are Lutron.

[hallerb]

call lutron the dimmer maker and ask, perhaps a different bulb with more structure would help?

i had this trouble a long time ago and went to either rough service or long life bulb and that cured it.

filaments vibrate espically at certain settings

[HotRod]

The lights you have may not be designed to be dimmed. Are these low voltage lights?