[Silfer]

This is my problem. I've been looking for a nightlight. But I could only find ones that were too bright or too dark. So I ended up changing the lightbulb in a normal lamp from 25 watt one to a 7 watt lightbulb every night. But that's a bit of a pain.
So I thought I'd buy a dimmer and just dim the 25 watt lightbulb to approx. the same amount of light that a 5 watt lightbulb (or even less) would give.

My guestion is. Is is safe to dim the light this much? Can it cause fire or overheating or is there something else that can go wrong that you don't want to wake up to?

Maybe a stupid question but I have no knowledge about these sort of things and I just had this feeling that most people wouldn't dim a lightbulb to the point where it was less bright than a candle. Hence the apprehension I'm feeling.

My dimmer is a simple one you can plug into the wall. With a simple knob you can turn to dim the light. Strange thing is that when you turn it to dim the light it can go much less bright than when you turn it up from complete darkness. Then the light start at ~ 4 watt brightness.

Anyone here know if I can go to sleep safely if I use this dimmer as a nightlight?

 

[JeffL]

If the dimmer is of the appropriate type you should be fine.

Dimmers are used all the time for this application...

Ever seen a professional dimmer pack before? They have dimmers that can handle massive amounts of currents.

A lowend dimmer is probably just a simple potentiometer, but a highend dimmer might actually use PWM (pulse width modulation) to vary the voltage to the lamp(s).

 

[Silfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL If the dimmer is of the appropriate type you should be fine.

Thanks, now I can sleep (better) at night.

The dimmer says it's for normal lightbulb lamps from 20-300watt. I'm using 25watt so that should be an appropriate type dimmer, right?

 

[wallijonn]

Exactly what do you mean by a "nightlight"? Something to plug into a bathroom wall? Something for a hall?

For the bathroom I bought a LCD nightlight at Wal-Mart for about $8. (I hate turning on the bathroom light in the middle of the night when I am half asleep).

http://eclecticlighting.homestead.com/XENONBULBS.html
http://www.swego.com/12_volt_bulbs.htm
You probably have a 12v 'wal-mart' adapter laying around the house.

 

[Snake]

Heck, a friend of mine found me a nightlight for my bathroom when he dragged me into a buck store. For, of course, $1. Works great, and I was looking at $40 electronic wall dimmers.

 

[kramer5150]

Just make sure its grounded properly... The dimmer in my dining room was not and it made ALL kinds of noise that propegated throughout the house AC. My tube amps HATED that. I run a furman PL+ conditioner now just to play it safe.

Garrett

 

[shafu]

Have you thought about getting a nightlight that is a little on the bright side and change the cover on it? IE, some paper around the cover or a plastic cover that's slightly darker? That seems to be better than a dimmer - could probably save on electric bills too. Most of the dimmers I've seen make that annoying noise...