Can You Dim Existing LEDs

[Kontiki]

One thing I miss about our Swift is not being able to dim any of the lights. On our Elddis the LED lights are at times too bright. Just wondering if there is a dimmer switch that can be retrofitted to the LEDs already fitted. Find at night if we are watching the TV we tend to either have the lights off or have the furthest light turned on. I know there are dimmable LEDs but don't want to start replacing them on a nearly new van.

 

[Fisherman]

Yes you can if they are dimmable.
But you would also require a dimmer switch suitable for led lighting.
Led dimmer switches have a reduced threshold due to the lower current.
If you cannot get a suitable led dimmer switch you would have to increase the threshold by using an incandescent light. But that would not be practical in a wild camping situation.

 

[Deleted member 5816]

Wildebus does wired in and remote switching LED Dimmers I have the remote version and it works very well with my LED lights.

Alf

 

[trevskoda]

You could always use one of those led wind up camping lamps for background light,handy walking out at night or if you get a flat wheel to.

 

[Deleted member 12539]

I have used LEDs in the motorhome and at home.
My experience with LEDs at home are that I had to buy specific dimmable leds, and on one occasion, was sent non dimmable in the place of dimmable bulbs.
These did not last long, their demise was evident by the fact that they would flash as I tried to dim them. LEDs used to be voltage sensitive and in my experience do not like changes in voltages unless they are designed for it.
I have many LEDs in my van, and in particular, I have a 5m length of colour changing along one side of the inside of the van. These leds, sometimes when switched off light up particular colours, I put this down to a residual current that the led cable is picking up from another live cable in the vicinity, probably due to the fact that leds do not require much power (amps) to light up.

 

[QFour]

It will not be a dimmer switch that does it but a dimmer module. LED bulbs can be dimmed by switching the power on and off very quickly. The more ON time the brighter the lights so what you need is a module that generates a square wave that can be adjusted.

 

[Fisherman]

To dim LED bulbs you need dimmable bulbs and a dimmer switch with a reduced threshold due to the low amperage of the LEDs.
If you used a dimmer switch suitable for normal incandescent lights, the normal threshold is 50 amps. this is to high for LEDs that use much lower amperage than this. LED dimers have a much lower threshold of 5-10 amps. as I stated previously you can use an older dimmer but the load would have to meet the threshold of the dimmer. this can be done by putting a higher amperage incandescent bulb within the circuit.
A dimmer switch is merely a variable potentiometer which allows you to vary the amount of current delivery to the circuit.
Non dimmable LEDs will flicker if you reduce the load using a dimmer switch.

 

[saxonborg]

One thing I miss about our Swift is not being able to dim any of the lights. On our Elddis the LED lights are at times too bright. Just wondering if there is a dimmer switch that can be retrofitted to the LEDs already fitted. Find at night if we are watching the TV we tend to either have the lights off or have the furthest light turned on. I know there are dimmable LEDs but don't want to start replacing them on a nearly new van.

Have a look at Aten Lighting, they do a range of LED Lighting and also dimming kits. I fitted a couple of strips over my lockers which I can dim, works well and not that expensive.