LED lamp circuit question

[rolfknudsen]

Hello

New here and greatly appreciate any input on the following:

I have a table lamp design which has a 700 mA LED. This is driven by a 12v wall power supply and need an inline dimmer switch.
At the moment I can source a 350mA dimmer switch, but would like a 700mA.

Is there a small module I can house in the lamp after the dimmer switch, before the LED so I can have a 12V dimmer switch on the cable, going to this module that then puts out more or less current so the LED lamp is dimmed?

Or am I going about it in the wrong way?

Ideally I would only like max 12-24V from the wall power supply, so I do not have the risks of mains power design in the lamp itself. I am NOT an electronics engineer, but a designer.

Thank you!

 

[Dave_H]

It's pretty sad that considering the size of Candlepowerforums, nobody has responded to this reasonable question in almost a week. There is no shortage of activity in the off-topic forums, the way things seem to be headed. I'm likely headed out of CPF soon.

To address the question: an inline dc dimmer may (or may not) work depending on what is inside the lamp.

If (say) inside were three white LEDs in series, with current-limiting resistor or simple linear regulator, applying 12v PWM at its input might work OK.

However, if the LED(s) use a switching type voltage-conversion/current-limiting circuit, which are common in 12v dc lights, applying dimming on the input may not work, unless the lamp is specifically designed to allow this.

The only other alternative I can think of is to go inside the lamp itself to do the dimming, if possible. Some of these switching chips have a dimming input, however it will not be "inline" as you desire.

Any detail you can provide about the lamp could help. I often open up products to see how they are constructed, and to some degree how they work; you may or may not want to, or be able to do this.

Dave