Very Basic Electrical Question
 

Just a quick question concerning replacing electrical dimmer switches... Is is possible to just replace the switch on this older style -
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604093460.jpg

to this newer style -
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604093599.jpg

Oddly, upstairs has the old and downstairs has the newer type - it would look better if all were matching.

Should work...I see no reason why not.
I replaced mine with these.
Just slide the button on the right to where you want the brightness at.
edit: I am no way qualified to answer your question!

https://www.oogalights.com/Home-Gard...gle-Dimmer.jpg

yes, totally easy correct. replace switch and cover plate, it will match right up

A dimmer switch is just a rheostat, push for "on/off" and dial for voltage decrease/increase. It's a direct switch out. Although some of the newer bulbs are not dimmable, they're either off or on, make sure you get the dimmable ones.

dimmers
 

if you have LED bulbs, they must be "dimmable", (says so on the package, but not on the bulb.
Similarly, if you are using a LED bulb, that is dimmable, the dimmer switch must also be rated for LEDs.

I think the decora style switch is ergonomically superior and the small slide dimmer more practical than having to use an antique rotary dimmer.

Dimmers are great because they allow big light for task lighting or lower general illumination light. I just put in a few ceiling light fixtures with two 100 watt, dimmable bulbs. works great.
chris

Also, I think there are different types (technologies) of dimmers. You might consider getting the type that will work for dimmable LEDs and also work for conventional bulbs.

E.g. I dug this up with a quick Google shot.
The type of dimmer switch and it's minimum/maximum load range will indicate the compatibility with LED light bulbs. Trailing edge dimmers work best with LED light bulbs and leading-edge dimmers work best with traditional incandescent and halogen light bulbs.

I think you guys are reading too far into it.

If the lights work with the round dimmer they will work with the decora dimmer.

Yup LED’s create come challenges. But that’s not today’s discussion.

I like the full lit switches at the front door and stairs for quick finding and safety.

They are difficult to get at big box stores without going into all the $30-50 internet connected mumbo-jumbo.
The only ones there had tiny white LEDs which were barely visible. Maybe that has changed.
I'm surprised they could be called 'lit'.

Ace had orange lit rockers but no other colors, no toggles, and not with a dimmer.
The electrician sourced an orange toggle to match the other but it was clear and a bit brighter.

It will work just fine.

Don’t do it!

I put one in a bedroom but when I turned on the faucet in the bathroom, the garbage disposal in the downstairs kitchen came on!

^^
I hate it when that happens. :D

New electronic dimmers aren't simple rheostats, which your round one probably is. Not usually a problem unless you are trying to use it on a ceiling fan.

Many thanks for the replies!!! I have several switches to replace (both regular and dimmable). Now I need to count the single pole versus double pole types and buy the materials. This will make a good winter project as this Southern boy has just moved from Alabama to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan (this translates to I will probably not be leaving the house when there is 30" of snow outside!).

Folks are right. A simple swap if they are working now...but, as some have indicated, if you are going to the effort to do the swap, you might consider going to LEDs or ones you can also control from your phone for some.

‘Bama to the UP?

Have you lived in the UP before?

If not, you had better time your project because winter in the UP only lasts 9 months per year. The other three is just damn poor sleddin’! But you can grill on the 4th. Usually.

Better invest in some plant bulbs for full spectrum and Vitamin D. Yer in for an adjustment.

Ford has a UP Special Edition suv.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604156999.jpg

When I lived in northern North Dakota, the best time of each year was when we were leaving for vacation and could see the sunflowers in the rear view mirror...the worst was the trip home. You knew you were close when you pulled into a rest area in Minnesota and had to turn on the wipers to see through the cloud of mosquitos that had descended on your car waiting for you to get out. Yep, when the mosquitos were so thick that they looked fur on your arm, you knew the two weeks of summer in ND had arrived.

The UP state bird is the mosquito.

I think I would prefer rattlesnakes...or lions and tigers to really bad mosquitoes. We drove cross country and late one night we stopped just west of the Mississippi in West Memphis to use a bathroom. Never again. It took 500 miles to get the mosquitoes (hundreds of them) all out of the car. The next day, I looked like I had been in a poison ivy patch. It took two weeks for the itching rash to go away.

LOL. Yep. One year when I was at Minot, we had over 50 days where it did not reach zero...and it was horrible...but the two weeks of summer might have been worse.

I was tooling along the Seney Stretch on a line to Engadine in the UP and came across the dense black smoke of a tire fire. But it wasn’t a tire fire and it wasn’t smoke.

It was clouds of blackflies!

Arrgh!

Regarding mosquitoes... we arrived here to our new home here in the UP in September - the mosquitoes were THICK! I was thinking that these nasty critters would be soon departing once the cooler weather arrived.

Now, fast forward to this week: snow is on the ground and the morning temperatures are in the mid-teens/ low twenties. During this time (exactly Wednesday of this week), my wife and I were taking our dog for a walk in our woods and I swear I saw some mosquitoes flying around. I quickly had my wife look and she, too, saw what appeared to be mosquitoes in the air... well, on a brighter note, the cold weather did slow down those dang ticks...

I do love it up here even though it is quite a transition - the Yoopers are some great people. I have started my inventory list of switches to replace noting the type and amperage rating so I will take advantage of the nine months of winter:)!!! I do remember twice visiting my in-laws during the week of July 4th and we had the fireplace lit!

I and two buddies loaded up in a little pontoon bush plane that was held together by rusty wire and some zip ties. One window was busted out. But we were on our way to go fishin’ way up past Mosinee to lake Missanabi up in Canadia for three days so we didn’t care too much.

Anyways, we loaded up the plane with essentials and also some food and we’re already to get pushed off the dock by the pilot’s hottie girlfriend in a bikini top.

So, pilot yells to his hottie girlfriend in a bikini top to give us a shove, hon, and don’t bust a tit cuz I’m comin’ right back after I drop these wood ticks (meaning us) off where the bears are.

(!)

The rest is a blur except I do know we caught three fish.

On purpose, I scheduled a five-day job in the UP during winter solstice just to see what it was like.

I lucked out and it got to -40F with wind and snow. Actual true no BS blizzard. But I had to drive so that made it interesting.

I’m heading south out of Houghton along Lake Superior on my left, the driver’s side. Bright sunshine. I mean clear and crisp with tiny, tiny sparkles of super-cooled water molecules reflecting from everywhere. Still as the calm before a storm. I’m going maybe 40 mph with sunglasses and gloves and then just like that, suddenly the world looked like I was inside a ping-pong ball. Me and the Dodge Caravan suspended in pure random whitnenss.

I have a sister-in-law from the UP. Wakefield, I believe. The wedding was in July and it was cold at night. Beautiful country! This was back in the late 70's...

Wakefield is as far west as you can get in the UP or real close to it. It starts to feel like Wisconsin which is just over the bridge in downtown Ironwood. It feels almost mountainy like Appalachia.

Matchwood, MI is near there. There’s a Wolfpack around there and Matchwood is in its territory.

Naturally, Matchwood somehow became part of a Federal environmental/protected species battle with testimony before Congress, blah blah. Wolves were eating people’s animals. And getting shot.

I opened this thread thinking what can they still be talking about regarding dimmers?

Nothing.

There can only be on stijn thread.

Houghton in the winter would be a challenge. San Francisco hills + sheet ice.
Quincy mine tour was fun. Those Finns mining the copper lived in Siberian luxury.
There was an exquisite historic B&B to die for owned by a family. Can't remember the name.