Dimmer and G12 70 count strand won't dim

[chomax]

New to dmx, I wanted to dim stands of g12 LED xmas lights. I purchased a 4 channel dimmer pack. The strands will not dim completely out. The channel is registering if I used a standard light fixture works and dims to an on and off position.

Am I missing something that is also required for these LED strands of lights?

Thanks.

 

[waynehoskins]

Two possible "gotcha"s come to mind:

- minimum load on the dimmer
- LEDs

 

[Les]

Try adding a small par can, fresnel, etc as a ghost load in addition to the LEDs and see if they fade all the way out.

Another "gotcha" is that some dimmers allow some current to trickle through as a filament warm up feature (I believe). This may be enough to keep the LEDs lit. I know I once had a star strobe on an ADJ dimmer, and though it would fade par38's perfectly, even at 0%, that star strobe would flash about once every few minutes.

 

[gafftaper]

First of all you will get better results for this question in the lighting forum... [-]and I'm guessing Derek will move it there when he finds it. This forum is for saying hello and telling us about yourself... many of our top gurus don't read it. [/-]

Second. Give us brand and model information about the dimmer pack and control console.

 

[FMEng]

LED christmas lights won't dim. They use a power supply which is regulated. That regulator will attempt to un-do any voltage reduction from the dimmer. If you need to dim christmas lights, you will need to use incandescent strings.