Trying to convert an LED floor lamp with inline dimmer to be wall dimmable.

thisisnotdave

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 4, 2018
Messages
1
Hey folks,

I hope someone can help me here because I've been looking all over for a couple of weeks without much luck. I'm in the process of installing Lutron Caseta switches and dimmers and I'd like to convert a dimmable LED lamp to be dimmable from the wall instead of the foot slider it came with.

This should be eyerollingly easy for most of you, and I think I have the right idea but I'd like to ask a couple of questions to make sure I don't burn down my house, and/or burn out my expensive dimmable lamp.

The lamp has a 24v wall adapter which feeds into a dimming slider that reads 5-20v 1400mah constant current. So I know that I need to find a wall dimmable LED driver that follows those specs - easy enough. My question is how much, if any, play is there in these numbers? If I find a 5-24v at the current, will I risk overvolting the LED's and killing them? I can trim the dimmer to some extent and watch the output with a meter but basically I'd like to get some input what I should be looking for. Also since I don't really know where to look, if someone can recommend a site where I can buy this I'd be greatly appreciative!

Thanks in advance!
 

Lynx_Arc

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 1, 2004
Messages
11,212
Location
Tulsa,OK
Why can't you either remove the dimmer and mount it on the wall or buy another dimming control with the same specs. You can run wires from the floor dimming electronics to the control in the wall then.
 

MeMeMe

Banned
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Messages
125
Hey folks,

I hope someone can help me here because I've been looking all over for a couple of weeks without much luck. I'm in the process of installing Lutron Caseta switches and dimmers and I'd like to convert a dimmable LED lamp to be dimmable from the wall instead of the foot slider it came with.

This should be eyerollingly easy for most of you, and I think I have the right idea but I'd like to ask a couple of questions to make sure I don't burn down my house, and/or burn out my expensive dimmable lamp.

The lamp has a 24v wall adapter which feeds into a dimming slider that reads 5-20v 1400mah constant current. So I know that I need to find a wall dimmable LED driver that follows those specs - easy enough. My question is how much, if any, play is there in these numbers? If I find a 5-24v at the current, will I risk overvolting the LED's and killing them? I can trim the dimmer to some extent and watch the output with a meter but basically I'd like to get some input what I should be looking for. Also since I don't really know where to look, if someone can recommend a site where I can buy this I'd be greatly appreciative!

Thanks in advance!

You are going to need to open up the fixture and measure the voltage on the LEDs, since most drivers that are phase cut (triac/etc.) dimmable do not have a wide voltage range that they are compatible with. Once you know the voltage on the LEDs, you can go find a driver at any number of places, i.e. Digikey.com, etc. Don't buy the cheap off-shore stuff, they tend to dim very poorly.
 

DIWdiver

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
2,725
Location
Connecticut, USA
In this case, the voltage range refers to the LED string voltage that the driver can handle. The dimmer you have can handle a short string (2 modern white LEDs would have around 6V) to a moderate string (say six at 3V each). If you had a 5-24V driver, it could handle those strings plus it could handle strings of 7 or 8. So you can go wider, but not smaller... Unless you measure the actual string voltage in your fixture as MeMeMe suggests. Then you'd have a single number. Say it was 12V. Then you could pick any driver whose range includes 12V, like 10-30V, or 3-15V.

It's the current you can't mess with very much. Go down and you get longer life, but less light. Go up, and you get more light but less life. Fortunately, 1400 mA is a pretty common number, so you shouldn't have trouble matching it.

I agree you should avoid cheap crap. Be aware though, that Mean Well is an offshore brand you are quite likely to encounter, but they are neither cheap nor crap. They are actually pretty good.
 

alpg88

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Messages
5,282
you wont be able to dim from wall dimmer. not with dc input driver you have
 
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