EcoLEDLighting - Low Energy Eco-Friendly Solid State LED Lighting Solutions Part of the Glentworth Group of Companies  
Phase Control Dimming

Advantages

  • Traditional dimming method for filament lighting (e.g. dichroic bulbs and incandescent lamps)
  • Simple and low cost
  • Two wire and earth ring-type installation
  • Good AC characteristics when not dimmed

Disadvantages

  • Distorts input correct waveform when dimming leading to:
    • Poor supply current harmonics and power factor
    • When used in bulk, it will not comply with AC supply building regulations for supply conditioning. I.e. it reflects current harmonics back into the mains supply
    • This interference on the mains can cause other sensitive equipment to give incorrect readings and/or fail completely
  • Dimmed lighting will have a pulsed stroboscopic output leading to potential issues with active displays and rotating machines (100Hz), laptops, oscilloscopes, displays, pumps and other machines

EcoLEDLighting Recommendations



We recommend that phase control dimming is not used for large area lighting that constitutes a large proportion (i.e. over 50%) of the electrical consumption of a building.

Although it is recommended that phase control dimming has become an industry standard within the housing and light industrial environments, when used in bulk it will distort the supply current to the building when effecting a dimming and cost saving function.

This distortion can put the supply current outside of the regulatory requirements for electrical supplies to buildings.

In consideration of replacement lighting using phase control dimming methods, EcoLEDLighting have a compatible product.

This is a general statement and the above shortcomings of the adoption of phase control dimming methods must be reviewed in respect of your own particular application.

If the application is potentially sensitive to the restrictions on a phase control dimming system, the alternative is 1-10V. This system has advantages over the phase control method because the light output is continuous and not pulsed in any way and does not distort the input current to the building. 1-10V also meets all the current AC current supply building regulations.



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