remote dimmer capbilities

DiegoJames

Hi:
I'm installing a ceiling fan/light unit and also an after market hand held dimmer/fan control with receiver installed into the fan wiring. I installed one of these remotes in the kitchen fan/light about 5 years ago without any problems. Question: The instructions say to use incandescent light bulbs only. But may I use the newer dimmer controllable florescent bulbs or will that still be a problem. Is it because the dimmer unit will not be able to safely dim ANY florescents (even dimmable ones) or is the caution dated because at time of writing no florescents were dimmable? For the same reason I've only been using incandescents in the kitchen fan, but they will not always be available.
Thanks!!
Diego

dmxtothemax

does the fan unit have a built in lamp dimer ?
If so this could explain the warning !
Some dimers are not built for inductive loads like CFL's.
Even if the unit does not have built in dimer,
but instead the internal circuitry still controls the lamp
current, ditto ! same problem !

DiegoJames

Hi dmxtothemax:

The fan doesn't have a built in lamp dimmer which is why I'm installing a separate dimer with coupled hand held controller, the unit is designed as an ad-on to be wired into the circuitry of the wiring of the ceiling/light fixture. The source of electricity is one source to the whole lamp/fan unit. A few years ago I installed the same unit to a fan/light which also had one electrical source and it works fine.

I'm going to totally my question: This ad-on dimmer is a model made and sold before the availability of dimable CFL light bulbs. So naturally the instructions would say do not use a florescent bulb because at the time they could never be dimmed. Question: Now that we can buy dimmable CFLs can I use it on any dimmer assuming I'm following the recommended amount of wattage going through it?

Another way of phrasing it would be: When CFLs became dimmable was it because the technology of the bulb changed only or did also the technology of the dimmer change?

Thanks mate:
-James

dmxtothemax

Its a bit of both I think !
The internal circuitry of the CFL would have to be designed for dimming,
And also the dimers have extra components for inductive loads,
They are called a "SNUBBER NETWORK" This extra circuitry
is required for reliable triggering on an inductive load.

You can try your dimmer on a dimmable CFL and see how it goes !
worst case senario is dimmer failure.
Maybe even some flickering at low levels.

DiegoJames

Thanks dmxtothemax: That is helpful as it sounds as if I won't burn the house down for trying the CFLs with the dimmer.

frenchelectrican

Many manufacters getting smart with this set up and if your remote dimmer is not designed to work with CFL then you have to stay with insdentscent bulbs and per engery pact they still have extempt for ceiling fan rated bulb so you can still get them.

Here one thing you can try is keep one insdentscent bulb and replace the rest with CFL that should keep from getting any flicker if the CFL is rated for dimming purpose.

Hope that help ya on that question.

Merci,
Marc

__________________
The answer will be based on NEC ( National Electrical code ) or CEC ( Cananda Electrical code ) or ECF ( Electrique Code France )

DiegoJames

Thanks. That's very interesting about using one incandescent bulb with the others CFLs.