Remarks
1) Dimmable energy saving lamps (ESL)
Only when energy saving lamps are explicitly dimmable, they can be dimmed with conventionally operated dimmers (rotary or sliding controllers) or especially electronically controlled dimmers of the dimming method indicated at the lamp (phase control / reverse phase control). However, this has to be mentioned in the description of the dimming device. In principle, dimmers designed for incandescent / halogen lamps are not considered suitable for energy saving models. Even if the combination works, it can possibly lead to strong radio interference due to the emission of increased glitches on the mains cable.
2) a. LED lamps
230 V LED lamps and high-voltage LED lamps must be marked as dimmable. If the LED lamp is marked as dimmable, check whether a phase-control or reverse-phase-control dimmer has to be used. This is usually put on the packaging from the manufacturer.
12 V AC and 12 V AC / DC LED lamps must also be marked as dimmable. Care must also be taken to ensure that the transformer used is dimmable. Which dimmer can be used, is shown in the manual of the respective transformer. Many transformers designed for low-voltage transformers also require a basic load (minimum load), which must be loaded by the LED lamps, since the transformer does not even “start”.
b. LED stripes and single LEDs (DC)
LED PWM dimmers (PWM = pulse-width modulation) are used for LED lamps which do not work directly with 230V (typically 12V or 24V DC)! Either an additional LED ballast (driver) is required or this is already integrated into the PWM dimmer. Dimmable LED drivers are also available for various control types.
3) Fluorescent tubes
Fluorescent tubes can only be dimmed with the special electronic ballasts (ECG with 0 – 10V interface) meant for this purpose and dimmer.