More on LED lighting

On Friday I shared a press release on one of the new Hella LED light fixtures. Since then I've heard from one of our readers about a potential problem that I always forget about, using modern LEDS with dimmer controls.

The bottom line here is simple, some of the new generation LED lamps may not be compatible with dimmer controls used in some lighting installations. The rather sophisticated control circuitry used on some of the latest (Hella included) light fixtures is designed to overcome an earlier problem with the LEDS operating under varying voltages found on board. Well with a simple resistive dimmer control, guess what, the variable voltage output from the dimmer might end up being compensated for by this newer circuitry, rendering your dimmer useless. So, if you have light dimmers and are going to swap out older incandescent lighting with LEDS, check with your LED manufacturer about how to deal with dimmer controls and get their recommendation.

Ed Sherman is a regular contributor to boats.com, as well as to Professional Boatbuilder and Cruising World, where he previously was electronics editor. He also is the curriculum director for the American Boat and Yacht Council. Previously, Ed was chairman of the Marine Technology Department at the New England Institute of Technology. Ed’s blog posts appear courtesy of his website, EdsBoatTips.