Dimming LEDs 101

Most customers select dimming capabilities when purchasing LEDs. Dimming will reduce energy cost and create an overall ambiance for the space being illuminated. With dimming, you can control your lighting system to reduce light intensity through a manual or automatic setting.

Firstly, lets clarify that All LED Strips are dimmable with a dimmable driver.

There are different types of dimming which operate using different functions. Your application may benefit from a different type of dimming depending on what type of lighting you are trying to achieve.

Forward Phase Dimming

Also known as TRAIC or Leading-Edge dimming will “clip” the positive and negative going to the AC voltage wave before sending the wave to the driver which will then reduce the power delivered to the driver. The driver then creates a current that is equivalent to the reduced power on the dimmer. This method is primary side dimming, meaning that there is no additional wire required. The dimming goes directly to the driver. This type of dimming is popularly used in household setting using MLV Dimmer switches. Please review our list of compatible dimmers to ensure a proper and efficient installation.

0-10V Dimming

Also known as analog dimming, 0-10 Dimming uses two wires between the dimmer and the driver. This method is known as secondary side dimming. The driver provides the current signal between (0-10V) to the dimmer and the dimmer then reduces the voltage to dim the lights. 0-10V dimmable drivers are only able to dim LEDs to 10% light output. This is a traditional method of dimming lights and is mainly used in commercial setting with building control systems or RGB LEDs.

0-10 Dimming is compatible with sinking dimmers and sourcing dimmers.

http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Education-Training/Documents/10V.pdf

DMX (Digital Multiple X)

The Digital Multiplexing communication was originally created for theatrical industry, but now is widely used for architectural lighting. DMX is a digital protocol which sends "packets" of information to individual light fixtures over a communication wire. Fixtures can be addressed from 001 to 512, each address corresponds to one channel. DMX allows you to create any lighting scene desired through programming and automation.

Please note that there any over a variety of different types of dimming but we wanted to browse over the few that we believe are useful to our customers. All installations and electrical wiring should be completed by a licensed electrician. Should you have any further questions about what wiring is best for your GlowbackLED lighting application please feel free to contact our knowledgeable staff