Dim the dash

Industrial Toys · Dec 3, 2019

Actually Dimming an AC run LED is very difficult. There are various Youtube Lectures on circuit design.

NO, you don't use a pot to dim an incandecsent light. A pot that big is called a rheostat. Ancient history. I just love it whan people always thought an SCR dimmer was just a Rheostat! lol

The OP needs to have some electronic ability to insert a dimming cuircuit. Certainly LEDs can be dimmed.

No offense, but there can't be any subject worse than electrical (or worse electronic) ones for getting misinformation.

snymat68 · Dec 3, 2019

Industrial Toys said:
Actually Dimming an AC run LED is very difficult. There are various Youtube Lectures on circuit design.

NO, you don't use a pot to dim an incandecsent light. A pot that big is called a rheostat. Ancient history. I just love it whan people always thought an SCR dimmer was just a Rheostat! lol

The OP needs to have some electronic ability to insert a dimming cuircuit. Certainly LEDs can be dimmed.

No offense, but there can't be any subject worse than electrical (or worse electronic) ones for getting misinformation.

AC LEDs on a 12VDC tractor?

Industrial Toys · Dec 3, 2019

Just mentioning it as a note about LED dimming practices and technology in general.

radios1 · Dec 3, 2019

snymat68 said:
If it's incandescent bulbs, they could be dimmed by using a properly spec'd potentiometer.

LEDs can't be dimmed. They're either full on or full off.
They way to make LEDs APPEAR to be dimmed is by using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM).
Not getting into the details, a PWM controller (either DIY or commercial) simply chops the power going to the LEDs into a square wave.
Basically it just turns the power on and off really fast (fast enough our eyes can't perceive it).
The higher percentage of the time the power is on, the brighter the LEDs appear.
Piece of cake to control if you know some basic electronics.
Otherwise, just purchase a commercial controller online.

actually, LEDS are very dim at the point of conduction, it's only when they are drawing full rated current that they get full brightness. and yeah, a PWM will do that too.