Landscape lighting and tranformer dimmer?
Hello. Been awhile since I posted on here. Can a dimmer be used to control the exterior 110v outlet which a landsape lighting tranformer is plugged into? I want to be able to dim the lights but the kits I have seen only have timer options and nothing on light intensity.
Thanks
Replies
You should also note that dimming the lights will tend to cause darkening of the glass envelope, permanently reducing light output and shortening bulb life.
Landscape lighting and tranformer dimmer?
Thanks guys for the help. Think i'll just stick with a lower watt bulb and see if that takes care of it.
Thanks again.
The others are correct, you're idea is a bad one. I thought I'd try to explain why.
It's important that you understand, as well as others, since this is pretty much why we also have so much trouble dimming fluorescent lights.
The key to it all is understanding that it's the 'alternating' in 'alternating current' that causes all the trouble. As the voltage varies in a circuit - imagine that circuit turning on and off 60 times a second - the magnetic field that surrounds the electricity also varies. That's right; where you have electricity, you have magnetism; the two cannot be separated.
Ordinary dimmers operate by turning the electricity 'off' partway through each cycle. The cyccle itself is not changed. So, the magnetic field still varies at 60 mcycles per second. Likewise, the 'peak' voltage doesn't change either; This means that the transformer - which responds to both the strength and frequency of the changes in the magnetic field - will still put out pretty much the same power as it did before you turned the dimmer 'down.'
That's one reason there are 'isolation' transformers used for computer rooms. The coils of the transformer have some ability to 'smooth out' little hiccups in the electrical power.
There is one effective way of 'dimming' alternating current. That is to vary the frequency. That is, change the rate at which the power switches between 'on' and 'off.'
After the transformer, there's another way. If the AC is converted to DC -a steady direct current form- then you can dim by reducing the voltage.This method is effective on pure resistance loads, like an ordinary light bulb, but ineffective on anything, like a motor, that has a coil of wire in it.
Low Voltage.
Thank you Sir for that information. I think that the systems I have been looking at are low voltage DC, I could be wrong though. I know that the transformer pulgs into AC and I am assuming it turns it into low voltage DC. So then I could put a dimmer on the DC side going to the lights?
After further review.
Looks like the 12v coming out of the transformer is still AC. I think i'll just stick with no dimmer and be done with it.
Thanks though for the help.