Whenever you need to accessorize your patio, the options would include the use of LED lights. Since LED lights are power efficient, it makes sense to have them hanging on your patio to provide the necessary light you need.
Most people love the ambience that comes with patio lights. However, creating an ambience will at times need dimming the lights. That is how you find people themselves asking the question, can you dim LED patio lights?
YES. You can dim the LED patio lights. Even though sometimes people might find it tricky.
I will give you a guide on how you can dim LED patio lights today.
How to Dim LED Patio Lights
Generally, the ability to dim LED lights is still new. This is because the LED lights have low wattage, thus it is not always easy to find dimmers that can work with them. The available dimmers are usually meant for the high wattage bulbs such as incandescent bulbs.
The advancement in technology has led to the development of specific drivers that now work in such low wattage lights.
Choosing the LED patio lights
I will not talk so much about the tips of choosing the LED patio lights, but rather you should pick LED lights that are labelled dimmable. As suggested earlier, not all LED lights will be dimmable.
Let us say you are buying online, there would be a category of choosing the dimmable lights. Such would have the right drivers or controllers that allow dimming.
The compatibility of the dimmable lights with the dimmer is also important. So, before you can choose a specific dimmer and dimmable LED lights, consider the manufacturer specifications. This information is mostly listed on the dimmer compatibility specification sheet.
For those that may already be possessing the LED patio lights, look at the lights specifications first to see if they are dimmable or not. If they are dimmable, then now search for a dimmer that would work with them.
Types of LED Patio Light Dimmers
LED lights could use different types of dimmers based on dimmer technology. We shall look at these types below to see which would be ideal for patio lights or even to use in the house.
- DALI Controllers
DALI is an abbreviation for Digital Addressable Lighting Interface. The system uses computer software to control the brightness of the patio LED lights.
They are characterized for having a touchscreen control pad that you can also mount to the wall. Being a touchscreen makes it a lot easier to control the lights.
Besides dimming your patio lights, this one can also help with adjusting the RGB lighting. So, you can always switch the colors of your lights with ease.
You could still pair these dimmers with automatic light adjustment sensors. As such, your patio lights can adjust depending on sunlight amount. It is definitely a great feature for saving your electricity.
- Zigbee dimmers
There are many Zigbee LED dimmers in the market. These are the best controllers for those who want to explore sleek home lighting. Well, we all want our patios to look cool, thus the reason I would recommend this dimmer.
This dimmer system operates over a wireless mechanism making it even better. You can be seated on the patio and control the dimming from a smartphone app or even use voice commands too.
If you enjoy such functionality, go ahead to give it a try.
- DMX controllers
The DMX lighting controllers are often best for stage lighting, homes, and hotels too. As you can see, these are specialist dimmers. Well, you can always find a way to use them on your patio lights too.
People find DMX controllers to be great also for theaters since they are quite smooth in dimming the lights. Other than dimming, they will also be great for RGB lighting too. So, you can expect it to offer more sophistication in your lighting.
Always make sure that the lighting uses compatible drivers. You can find such a dimmer having a computer software to offer even more control.
- Voltage dimmers
The name should give away how it is set up and used. Well, these dimmers will easily be integrated with the main wiring system of the house. For this reason, it will be suitable for your patio and office space at work.
These dimmers will work by reducing the voltage supplying the LED lights. As such, these lights will now operate at a lower power, thus reducing the overall brightness.
There are two options under these dimmers. They include trailing edge or the leading edge dimmers.
The leading-edge dimmers are simple to design and build. This means they would always be cheaper. However, they will generally contain a higher minimum load. As a result, it offers a narrower range for dimming your LED lights.
For LED lights, consider the trailing-edge dimmers. They offer better dimming capability. They would also be smoother and have more range thus good for LED lights that use low power.
- Radio frequency controllers
The radio frequency controllers would be ideal for giving you wireless control over the LED lights. You simply have to use the remote within the range of the receiver and do any dimming that you want.
This system is generally easy to set up and get it working. Depending on how you set up your LED strips, you can group them into different zones and control them differently.
This is another top choice for LED strip lighting. In case that is what you have for your patio, it will be a nice consideration. Also, these controllers allow you to control several strips at once from a central location.
Conclusion
So far you can see that dimming LED lights is quite possible. What you always need to consider is the type of LED lights you have. They need to be dimmable since not all of them have this capability. Next is to match the LED lights with the right controllers or dimmers. Once you have all this information, you should have the best dimmable LED patio lights.