Some LED bulbs state "not dimmable"; yet dim on test. Are they hurt?

Maurie Leising
by Maurie Leising
Buy hurt, I mean shorter life, or other problems. The dim-nest seems to be less than before; but it is significant, and in my case desirable.

  3 answers
  • Hillela G. Hillela G. on Oct 03, 2017

    Sounds like they're battery is running low. Its not usually a problem but you may prefer to replace them :)

    • Maurie Leising Maurie Leising on Oct 04, 2017

      These are 120v a/c powered LED light bulbs on an old (incandescent-based) dimmer switch.

  • Sharon Sharon on Oct 04, 2017

    I believe I've seen LED dimmers, but your not supposed to use the standard dimmer. http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to/a3886/how-to-use-a-dimmer-switch-with-cfls-and-leds-15882096/

  • Jim Cox Jim Cox on Oct 04, 2017

    A standard dimmer uses pieces of the wave to allow the incandescent bulb filament to heat to varying levels of white hot. LED output is not based on heat and requires a more complex dimmer (hence the cost). Upgrade your bulbs and install the proper dimmer. You'll get rid of the flashing/flickering/etc, and have a much more usable lighting fixture. I put 4 cans in my living room ($6.50 x4) with four dimmable LEDs ($8x4) and one dimmer ($18) all from Lowe's in about 7 hours. Looks like daylight at only 60W :D

    • See 1 previous
    • Jim Cox Jim Cox on Oct 05, 2017

      Nice reply 👍🏻👍🏻😊. I don't know of any long term damage to LEDs from traditional dinners. If you are getting good results I'd keep going. I can't see any dangers code-wise since all is rated for 120v.


      Here's "Inside a 120V LED". Since I don't see a true transformer, I'm not worried about the spikes from the chopped sine wave.

      http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2013/10/what-s-inside-the-walmart-60w-replacement-led-bulb.html