All Grau Ambient luminaires (with the exception of the Flying, Sun and Team Suspension) are designed for standard dimming with a trailing edge phase dimmer so that they can be dimmed with 3-pole house wiring.
When selecting a suitable dimmer, you should consider the following points:
- use a trailing edge rotary dimmer with phase cut-off for LED luminaires. Note: older dimmers from the analog lighting era are only suitable to a limited extent! They often have poor performance in terms of dimming range and dimming quality.
- if your dimmer offers several setting options, e.g. automatic load detection, please always use trailing edge phase dimming
- make sure that your dimmer offers the option of setting the minimum brightness
- the dimmer must have a minimum power range of ≤ 10 W
Please observe the following points during installation and operation to achieve the best possible dimming performance:
- if possible, only operate luminaires of the same type with the dimmer
- when operating several pendants/spotlights on the same dimmer, for example in a 2 or 3 Trace rail, it is sometimes necessary to adjust the minimum brightness of the dimmer so that the luminaires switch on at the same time
- when switching on the luminaires at a low dimming level, it can happen that one or more luminaires do not come on, but only when you dim up the brightness. This is a characteristic specific to the phase cut-off and can be improved by increasing the minimum brightness on the dimmer.
- simultaneous operation of LED luminaires with LED retrofit lamps or incandescent/halogen lamps can lead to faults (flickering, asynchronous operation). We advise against this.
As the quality of dimming with trailing edge phase control depends not only on the factors mentioned above but also on the quality of the mains supply (ripple control pulses or harmonics from external consumers), there is generally no single dimmer that achieves the best result, especially as the selection is also determined by any existing switch range.
Can you recommend a specific dimmer?
We have had good experiences with the 6523U-102 dimmer from Busch-Jaeger. However, you would have to ask Busch-Jaeger or your electrician whether this dimmer is also compatible with covers from other switch manufacturers.
The VD200 model from Vadsbo offers good frame compatibility for the manufacturers GIRA, Eljo, Merten, Jung and Busch-Jaeger, and therefore covers a broad spectrum.
At the time of testing, the above-mentioned models produced good results with our products, but these recommendations are non-binding, as the dimmers we tested may have been modified by the manufacturer in the meantime.
Are there any dimmers that you cannot recommend under any circumstances?
We cannot recommend the use of trailing edge phase control dimmers from Eltako or can dimmers from other manufacturers, as problems with dimming occur time and again.
Are there alternatives?
To experience and use the full potential of your light, we recommend a GRAU App upgrade. This allows you to use the digital potential of your GRAU luminaire in your existing power grid. The purchase of special LED dimmers is not necessary in this case, because the luminaires can be controlled smartly via the GRAU App or simple push-buttons.