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ChooChooMan74's avatar
Aug 01, 2014

In Search Of 12V Switch and Dimmer Control

Just as it sounds. I found this on eBay for $42.99 :E And RV stores online wanted LOTS MORE!!! Maybe some of you have seen something similar, maybe closer to the $20 range???

Here is what I want to do. My LED upgrade in my bathroom is great, except for the night time bathroom use, I think they are too bright. I want to be able to dim them for night time use, just enough to aim at the bullseye.

2nd option would be an LED courtesy light, mounted higher than normal.

FYI, I did the whole trailer in LEDs. I replaced many of the switches on the fixtures with DPDT switches so I can use either 1 or both sides of the light. I could do that for the bathroom, but it will still be too bright.
  • You could put a resistor in the line that feeds the first lamp in your two position switch, first position to bulb with resistor which would be dimmed, second position to other bulb. Adding a diode from second bulb to first would bring first bulb up to full output.

    Cheap and easy.

    Doug
  • The Ebay control you link to is a PWM (pulse width modulation) dimmer control. It basically pulses current to the light in controlled frequency to control the amount of time the light is in an on/off cycle. Great for incandescent and halogen bulbs, but not so good for LED's

    Here is a link to a wealth of 12v LED dimmer controls.

    12v Dimmer Controls

    You'll love the LED's ... I sure do. :)
  • I did a Google search and found several for under $20.
    Maybe Lowe's or Home Depot or the such.

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