Five Dimming Methods of LED Lights

For a light, dimming is very important. Dimming can not only create a comfortable atmosphere, but also increase the usability of lights.Moreover, for LED light sources, dimming is easier to realize than other fluorescent lamps, energy-saving lamps, high-pressure sodium lamps, etc., so it is more appropriate to add dimming functions to various types of LED lamps. What kinds of dimming methods does the lamp have?

1.Leading edge phase cut control dimming (FPC), also known as SCR dimming

FCP is to use controllable wires, starting from the AC relative position 0, the input voltage chopping, until the controllable wires are connected, there is no voltage input.

The principle is to adjust the conduction angle of each half-wave of the alternating current to change the sinusoidal waveform, thereby changing the effective value of the alternating current, so as to achieve the purpose of dimming.

Advantages:

convenient wiring, low cost, high adjustment accuracy, high efficiency, small size, light weight, and easy remote control. It dominates the market, and most manufacturers' products are this type of dimmer.

Disadvantages:

poor dimming performance, usually resulting in reduced dimming range, and will cause the minimum required load to exceed the rated power of a single or a small number of LED lighting lamps, low adaptability and low compatibility.

2.trailing edge cut (RPC) MOS tube dimming

Trailing-edge phase-cut control dimmers made with field-effect transistor (FET) or insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) devices. Trailing edge phase-cut dimmers generally use MOSFETs as switching devices, so they are also called MOSFET dimmers, commonly known as "MOS tubes". MOSFET is a fully controlled switch, which can be controlled to be on or off, so there is no phenomenon that the thyristor dimmer cannot be completely turned off.

In addition, the MOSFET dimming circuit is more suitable for capacitive load dimming than the thyristor, but because of the high cost and the relatively complex dimming circuit, it is not easy to be stable, so that the MOS tube dimming method has not been developed, and the SCR Dimmers still account for the vast majority of the dimming system market.

3.0-10V DC

0-10V dimming is also called 0-10V signal dimming, which is an analog dimming method. Its difference from the FPC is that there are two more 0-10V interfaces (+10V and -10V) on the 0-10V power supply. It controls the output current of the power supply by changing the 0-10V voltage. Dimming is achieved. It is brightest when it is 10V, and it is off when it is 0V. And 1-10V is only the dimmer is 1-10V, when the resistance dimmer is adjusted to the minimum 1V, the output current is 10%, if the output current is 100% at 10V, the brightness will also be 100%. It is worth noting and the best thing to distinguish is that 1-10V does not have the function of a switch, and the lamp cannot be adjusted to the lowest level, while 0-10V has the function of a switch.

Advantages:

good dimming effect, high compatibility, high precision, high cost performance

Disadvantages:

cumbersome wiring (wiring needs to increase signal lines)

4. DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface)

The DALI standard has defined a DALI network, including a maximum of 64 units (with independent addresses), 16 groups and 16 scenes. Different lighting units on the DALI bus can be flexibly grouped to realize control and management of different scenes. In practice, a typical DALI system application can control 40-50 lights, which can be divided into 16 groups, while being able to process some controls/scenes in parallel.

Advantages:

Accurate dimming, single lamp and single control, two-way communication, convenient for timely query and understanding of equipment status and information. Strong anti-interference ability There are special protocols and regulations, which enhance the interoperability of products between different brands, and each DALI device has a separate address code, which can truly achieve single-light control.

Disadvantages:

high price and complicated debugging

5. DMX512 (or DMX)

DMX modulator is the abbreviation of Digital Multiple X, which means multiple digital transmission. Its official name is DMX512-A, and one interface can connect up to 512 channels, so literally we can know that this device is a digital transmission dimming device with 512 dimming channels. It is an integrated circuit chip that separates control signals such as brightness, contrast, and chromaticity, and processes them separately. By adjusting the digital potentiometer, the analog output level value is changed to control the brightness and hue of the video signal. It divides the light level into 256 levels from 0 to 100%. The control system can realize R, G, B, 256 kinds of gray levels, and truly realize full color.

For many engineering applications, it is only necessary to set up a small control host in the distribution box on the roof, pre-program the lighting control program, store it in the SD card, and insert it into the small control host on the roof to realize the lighting system. Dimming control.

Advantages:

Precise dimming, rich changing effects

Disadvantages:

Complicated wiring and address writing, complex debugging

We specialize in dimmable lamps,if you want to know more about lights and dimmers, or buy the dimmers featured in the video, please contact us.

Post time: Nov-30-2022