R7s lamps?

Oct 10, 2021 Last reply: 4 years ago 13 Replies

We have two "Mother & Child" floor standing lights which we use quite a lot. I'd like to change the R7s halogen lamps to LED but although claiming to be dimmable the ones Ive just bought don't dim properly and glow even when the dimmer is clicked to off!



Is there a type of LED R7s lamp that will work with the dimmers in these lights?



Mike


There are dimmers and dimmers- I am being serious.

Some are incompatible with LED lamps, including the ?touch type? I believe often found built into lamps.

Trailing edge dimmers are better than leading edge ones, the latter certainly can hum. I?ve not tried the former.

I recently bought a new set of dimmers which claim to be LED compatible, they have preset pots on the back for min brightness but I?ve not used them yet. They are leading edge!

Probably not. You need to change the dimmer.

Thanks Adam. Sadly that's probably not an option as the dimmer is an integral one built into the light stand.

Mike

You would be surprised. Often the dimmer module is held in solely by the pot screw and is swappable

I have fitted a LED replacement to mine, its not dimmable but not a problem as I always use it turned full up ! Looked at trying to bypass the dimmer part of the combi dimmer and on/off switch, but the design made this impossible.

Maybe but STWNFI would probably veto the idea as less convenient.

Mike

Had a similar problem with ours. If the end I just bypassed the dimmer and fitted LED bulbs of appropriate brightness.

If the brightness is in the right ballpark to begin with the need for a dimmer is greatly reduced. Whilst they may exist, dimming LEDs generally don?t provide the ?warmth? that we expect from a dimmed bulb and end up providing a dingy cold light at low levels.

Tim

Am I alone in not having a clue what the acronym STWNFI means. I can guess some of it, but not one I've come across before and Google is no help. Cheers John M

+1

I think an investigation is required. Whether an alternative module will fit is likely the real question.

I used to say that Halogens did not produce the right light either though, tending at least to my dodgy eyes at the time to make things look yellow/greenish and dotty. LEDs are more recent than my experience, but I just wondered what the driver for the leds actually was in these bulbs? Do they have a chain or two chains across each mains phase with some kind of current limiting, or are they purely electronic supplying a much lower voltage no matter what the mains voltage. I'd suspect the latter would be undimmable. The touch dimmers were always a pain even on ordinary bulbs as some used to kind of pulsate or spontaneously change without any warning. Perhaps some kind of smart bulb and an alexa? Alexa dim my standard lamp kind of thing? Brian

Google can help

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Thanks - that didn't come up in my search! Bit of a weird acronym, though. John M

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