GU10 & Dimmer advice

[hobo]

Hi all

I've had a new kitchen done and have in total 11x50Watt GU10's. I'd like to put one of those infrared touch dimmer switches but am confused. I see there are dimmers which will take up to a 600W load

which in theory should be ok since 11x50W is only 550W. The thing I don't understand is that it seems that you can't run a dimmer to full capacity when using GU10's. Why is this? I assume its got something to do with heat?

Anyone any ideas? Could I get away with using 35W GU10s instead or would this still be no use?

To add to my confusion, on the TLC dimmer guide webpage

states that "Our dimmers have been re-rated for GU10 Lamps and are able to dim GU10 lamps to the wattage stated on the dimmer.". Does this mean it will be able to take the full 600watts?

Thanks all

[Tim Nicholson]

Sorry - don't know the answer to this one - but read on....

Yep - and they work just great - I had a similar problem with an IR

2-gang switch which would only take 150 W per channel (the single gang appear to take 400 or 500W?!), and as one circuit has 4 GU10's we had to compromise with 4 x 35W instead of 4 x 50W. We don't notice the diffference. They only issue I *did* have was that the two two-gang dimmer switches we used both failed after 6 and 12 months respectively, but the warranty replacement was a different design, so perhaps some known fault has since been rectified (both working over 18 months without problem now). I've also noticed that these switches *appear* to cause less stress to the bulbs - in a previous house we were forever changing mains GU10's but here I think I've only replaced 2 (out of 8) in 2 years (and they're in a kitchen which is heavily used)

My reading of that site would be that yes, they're claiming it'll take

600W - but as with point one - I have no direct experience of trying to do this - sorry -

Tim