Hi all. We've just had our kitchen relocated and have 2 banks of 9 GU10 Lap Dimmable 5W bulbs from Screwfix. I already have a set of these bulbs in our old kitchen and have been impressed with their output. The new kitchen has these leds controlled by a Varilight V-Pro Trailing Edge 3 gang dimmer switch. 2 gangs each control 9 leds and the 3rd gang controls a standard lightbulb. The issue I have is that all the leds are buzzing whatever the brightness setting. It's not really loud but it's loud enough to be annoying. There is no flickering. Also, I don't believe they are getting up to full brightness - I'm sure the ones in our kitchen are brighter ( they aren't on a dimmer). I cannot stand the buzzing and I was under the impression that an LED compatible trailing edge dimmer switch would ensure there was no buzzing. The dimmer switch cost a lot of money too Any idea what is causing the buzzing? Many thanks for your time and help. BB.
hi, i think load wise what you have is OK. Can you try a different brand of LED's and post back? You might find a call to varlight (customer services 01293 851584) will suggest you try a particular brand. Let us know what happens.
I think it's probably just the electronic power regulator circuits in the lamps, nothing really that you can do about that, all switch-mode power supplies will make some noise. Having 18 of them I suppose the accumulative effect could be a bit annoying in a very quiet room.
Thanks for the replies. I have fired off an email to Varilight so I'll see what they say. I cannot afford to replace all the bulbs so think I will have to live with it for a while and see how it goes. I can always change the switch to a standard non dimmer if necessary.
LAP led's definitely not my favourite brand, your not the first one with them buzzing. Varilight V-Pro Trailing Edge dimmer, one of the best available.
Agreed. I think the LAP stuff is pretty much the "value" range of stuff. I have fitted a set of LAP down lighters and to be fair the actual fitting and lamps seemed OK. It was on a conventional switch so no buzzing. I have fitted loads of their sockets and switches and they seem a bit flimsy to be honest.
I only bought LAP because we have had them in our old kitchen and I was impressed with them. Normal switch there so no buzzing! What brands do you recommend?
Been using these in the kitchen in Cool White & dimmable version with a Varilight V-Pro TE dimmer for nearly 2.5 years now, haven't had one fail yet. Found the light bright, good beam spread, no buzzing from them, did try daylight, but prefer the cool white version. Go through Quidco for a voucher code & cash back WIDE ANGLE: http://www.ledhut.co.uk/spot-lights/gu10-led-bulbs/new-4-5-watt-gu10-cob-bulb-wide-beam-angle.html SPOT: http://www.ledhut.co.uk/spot-lights/gu10-led-bulbs/new-6-watt-gu10-cob-bulb-wide-beam-angle.html
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Interestingly, I noticed this afternoon that the buzzing was mainly coming from one bulb. I changed it and it's much better now. However, now the dimmer switch is going haywire. The lights keep turning straight off after I turn them on and one gang often turns off if the other is turned on. Its intermittant though so it can work ok for a little while and then be unusable etc. I have the Varilight remote and that's also not working right at all. Every time I use the remote to turn the lights on they immediately turn back off. Something seems very wrong with the dimmer switch
Varilight have a good customer service, found them very helpful. http://www.varilight.co.uk/index.html The varilight pro is programmable, details how to reset & set them up are in the instructions. Guide here. One thing with Vari Pro, they can be set either to leading edge or trailing edge, so it wise to reset it & set it up again, instructions below. http://www.varilight.co.uk/technical-section/tv.html
I will give the same advice I always give to people who complain about problems with dimmer switches. Get rid and put a normal switch on. The reason your switch is buzzing you have exceeded the maximum allowable load on the dimmer. 45W of LED load is too high for a 400W dimmer. Do your homework before asking questions. Six lamps per dimmer switch is about right.
Charming. Taken from Varilight's instructions for my dimmer: 1 to 10 Dimmable LEDs (max. 100W) per gang. Also my switch isn't buzzing. It's silent.
OK so the dimmer has gone bonkers! It's tuning the lights on and off all by itself! Reckon it's rather faulty then. So I bought a normal switch today to swap over and see what happens. Problem is I am having trouble working out how to wire it up! I have successfully wired new switches in the past but have not gone from a dimmer like this to a standard switch. Here's a photo of the wired up dimmer switch as it is now: Not sure if it's clear in the above photo but there is also a grey wire with blue tape on it not connected to anything. Here's the rear of the standard switch I want to install instead: http://s25.postimg.org/akvollgj3/IMAG0078.jpg If any of you can help me wire this I would be eternally grateful
BritishBeef...... Firstly the problem you had is very common. Lots of people just change the lamps for LED's and wonder why they buzz/flicker or don't work below a set level, the same goes for the dimmer. That's why you employ registered electricans to undertake works like that. They will calculate the loadings for the circuit and install an suitable dimmer. At the same time they would have noted that that grey cable that has been "chocolateblocked" and taped would not comply to regulations and also you have older coloured cable and therefore your comsumer unit should be marked to so this. Varilite do make very good dimmer switches but I have found a few faulty ones over the years. General Rules for simple circuits: (NOT containing fluorescent tubes/compact fluorescent lamps or non-dimming LED's) Add up the total wattage of the lamps to be controlled and make sure that the dimmer will handle this maximum, do not overload the dimmer. Also look at the minimum dimmerable wattage...as the lamps won't go below this valve, normally they just flicker at that point. Have 4x4w LED's in the circuit and try to control them with a 10-120w dimmer you are only going to be able to dim them from 16w (4x4w) to the 10w mim, not even half dimmed! Good luck
Hi sjs, thanks for your post. My electrician fitted the LED lights and the dimmer switch. The LED's are dimable. The max load per gang is 100W so I am using a max of 45W on each gang. The minimum is 10W.
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