VARILIGHT Technical Support

Other VARILIGHT Dimmers

My dimmer is causing the lights to flicker.

This problem is usually caused when the dimmer is under-loaded.

Please check on the back of the dimmer where the minimum and maximum load is printed. Add up the ratings of all the light bulbs that the dimmer is controlling and make sure they are more than the maximum load printed on the dimmer (see example below*).

If your lighting load is below the dimmer's minimum rating then you need to purchase a different dimmer or replace the light bulbs with others that have a higher rating (e.g. replace a 40W bulbs with a 100W bulbs). Don't forget, because you are using a dimmer you will still be able to dim the lights right down to a low level even though you are changing to a bulb with a higher rating.

We have developed a low-load dimmer specifically for dimmable compact fluorescent (CFL) lighting loads, for example if you want to dim just one 20W dimmable CFL. For dimmable LEDs choose our V-Pro dimmer series for the best possible performance.

* Here's an example. In your lounge there is a light fitting with 2 x 20W light bulbs currently controlled by a single switch. You want to buy a dimmer to replace the switch. In your local DIY shop there are two dimmers available, one with a minimum rating of 40W and the other 60W. In this case the total lighting load is 2 x 20W = 40W. Therefore you would need to choose the dimmer with the 40W minimum load.