Question about LED household lighting

[Comdrpopnfresh]

have a par20 led bulb on a dimming circuit, causing it to hum. What's the best way to switch the circuit to a setup in which the bulb doesn't hum? Dimming was almost never performed on the circuit before the led light was put into service

 

[BoomerD]

Is the LED bulb dimmable? The ones I have aren't...

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

no, and it says not to place it on a dimming circuit. the circuit is kept at max on the dimmer, but I assume the humming is because it is solid state electronics on a variable voltage dimming line, irregardless of the fact that the dimmer is set to 'normal'

my main concern is that this thing is going to burn out prematurely from being placed on a dimming circuit against mfg suggestions/warnings. Also, the humming is a drawback of the light... if it can be made to cease humming, the 50w par20 halogen bulbs on the circuit will be replaced by bulbs similar to this led one (8w- much better spectrum of light) as they burn out

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Replace the dimmer with a standard switch.

 

[PottedMeat]

Replace the dimmer with a standard switch.

yep. costs what - a buck?


i guess it's humming because the dimmer really isn't at max - its probably cutting out a really small angle on the 60hz sine wave.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

so just wire-nut off the dimmer lines and place a sp switch in? can anyone confirm that these types of bulbs have humming behavior because of the dimmer? it's suck to go through the time and effort of replacing the switch if the humming won't stop

 

[PottedMeat]

so just wire-nut off the dimmer lines and place a sp switch in? can anyone confirm that these types of bulbs have humming behavior because of the dimmer? it's suck to go through the time and effort of replacing the switch if the humming won't stop

take out the bulb and put it in a desk lamp or something and see if it hums - if it does, get your money back.

 

[eldorado99]

so just wire-nut off the dimmer lines and place a sp switch in? can anyone confirm that these types of bulbs have humming behavior because of the dimmer? it's suck to go through the time and effort of replacing the switch if the humming won't stop

Well I put a CFL on a dimming switch once as an experiment and it hummed - even at max. Took the same bulb and put it in a normal SP CCT and it was fine. So probably its because of the resistance in the dimmer CCT.

 

[BoomerD]

I used to have a porch light that had a built-in photocell and motion-sensor activated dimmer. Under normal conditions, the fixture operated at 1/2 voltage...when the motion sensor tripped, it went to full voltage.

I tried one of my LED bulbs in it...it made a humming noise and it looked like the bulb circuitry started to smoke. It left a black mark inside the globe.
I finally removed the dimmer/photocell circuitry, replaced it with a standard button-type photocell and the LED bulb works fine.
Did I shorten the lifespan of the bulb? Perhaps, but it's been operational every night for more than a year.