Dimmer and not dimmer

[Invisible Man]

We have a double dimmer light switch in the lounge. Each presses to toggle on and off and rotates to dim.

We want to continue to be able to dim one set of lights but replace the others with brighter, cooler running CFLs that are not dimmable.

Can we just leave one gang turned fully up for the CFLs? Don't want to cough up for dimmable CFLs.

Do light switches with 1 gang dimming and one gang just on and off exist?

Any other ideas? I suspect they are probably sealed units that might disintegrate if I try to open one up to disconnect the dimmer bit and solder a short circuit across it.

Roll on better LEDs.

[Tim]

Why not have a look? An appropriate link to short circuit the dimmer seems a reasonable way to go.

Amen the that!

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not usually sealed. I've removed the 'guts' where I've wanted a matching push on/off switch before.

But check if it's a two way type. If so the extra terminal is undimmed.

[NT]

Shouldnt be too hard to bridge the dimming bit. If any doubts, post a pic for confirmation.

NT

[Tim W]

Invisible Man wibbled on Wednesday 02 December 2009 15:54

They'll come.

There are already excellent but expensive LEDs.

Trouble is there is also a lot of utter s**te that maye or may not look OK when you view it in the shop - but drops dead in a few months.

When someone figures out how to push the quality stuff and put people off the shitty ones the costs might come down...

[David Hansen]

On Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:54:44 +0000 someone who may be Invisible Man wrote this:-

Probably. Though it depends on the exact construction.

They can be made up with grid components. IIRC MK and Crabtree have dimmers in their grid systems.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Often do it all by themselves, first time the bulb blows ;-)