How can I dim LED Christmas lights?

grill_gus

I bought two different strings of LED lights of the same brand to replace my old lights with LEDs. Big multi-colored C9 bulbs with dangling white icicle strands of T1 bulbs. The problem is that the big bulbs produce a lot less light than the cool white icicle lights. Is there any way to dim a chain of LED lights? I keep reading that standard dimmers don't work with LED lights.

Originally asked by Josh Brown on Stack Exchange (diy) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

Not all LED's are dimmable. The box should say if they are dimmable. Usually if they are dimmable, the instructions might say something like dimmable with standard dimmers. If they are dimmable and you use a regular dimmer they will dim but a standard dimmer will not give you 100% dimming and might go bright to off in half a turn or slide. Dimmers for LED's have a trim wheel that you can adjust and give you a more balanced dimmer and effect.

Full answer by lqlarry: https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/10561 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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