Lamp dimmers and their circuits must be compact, energy efficient and able to operate reliably in confined spaces. Lamp brightness is varied by controlling the conduction time of each half-cycle of ...

We are all familiar with the snap-on phenomenon of inexpensive TRIAC dimmers that are often used to control incandescent lamps –turn the pot until the light comes (snaps) on and then reduce the ...

To understand the technology associated with practical LED dimming we first have to look at the technology associated with triac-based incandescent lamp dimmers. The typical triac lamp dimmer circuit ...

Triacs are at the heart of dimming controls for LED lighting. Triacs used in dimmers have normally been characterised and specified for incandescent lamp loads, which have high current ratings for ...

The quest for energy efficiency has led manufacturers to investigate ways of dimming all kinds of lighting technologies, including those that usually can’t be dimmed. Consider, for example, ...