Dimmers/Quarts Halogens?

[Richard Venturelli]

I was just wondering if Dimmers controlling Halogens are a good idea and would they shorten their life? Example, Ceiling fans with halogens light kits. I kinda look at halogens as small fluorescent lights.

[Mike Henderson]

A halogen lamp is just a regular incandescent bulb with a small amount of a halogen gas in the bulb (well, there's a bit more to it than just that, but that's the simple answer). The halogens are the elements in the column next to the noble gases (the halogens are the second to last column in a table of the elements (http://www.chemtutor.com/images/pc.gif)).

Because of this, halogen bulbs act pretty much like regular incandescent bulbs. You can put them on a dimmer just fine.

Mike

[Wikipedia has an article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halogen_lamp) on halogen bulbs.]

[Richard Venturelli]

A halogen lamp is just a regular incandescent bulb with a small amount of a halogen gas in the bulb. The halogens are the elements in the column next to the noble gases (the halogens are the second to last column in a table of the elements (http://www.chemtutor.com/images/pc.gif)).

Because of this, halogen bulbs act pretty much like regular incandescent bulbs. You can put them on a dimmer just fine.

Mike

[Wikipedia has an article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halogen_lamp) on halogen bulbs.]

Mike thanks, I always wondered after installing many dimmers on ceiling fans with Halogens if it was shorting the life of the bulb. Now I can sleep easy at night.

[Tom Godley]

If you google "Halogen bulbs and dimming" you will get a lot of info.

I have always used dimmers with them as with regular bulbs because the start surge is the real bulb killer. When they first came out I read about the filament cycle and inner glass deposits when used with dimmers but I have never had any problems that I can tell - but many times the bulbs are running at full brightness anyway.

[Jim Becker]

If the halogens are low voltage, they are dimmable if the correct type of transformer is used...we have many in our home that are set up exactly like that. Anything that dims is LV halogen and everything else is CFL.

[Joe Pelonio]

My wife's sewing room has halogen track lighting, all of them on one dimmer switch and no problems with them for several years now.