How to dim Rope light s ????

[tiberious]

I`ve got a few ropelights I want to string round the top of my new HC - they have 3 pin plugs on the end of each length , and I`m wondering how I go about making them "dimmable".

Can the plugs be removed , and they be "hard wired" into a normal dimmer (I`m thinking not) - or how do I do it ?

All help appreciated

[themadhippy]

depends on the type of rope light,if its just a string of lights in a tube,with a 13a plug on the end then yes a normal dimmer should work,the main proplem will be the total wattage of the load as alot of dimmers dont work very well with a low load(<20w).
if the rope light is one with a built in controller then you could still try a dimmer but you may get a strange dimming curve or speed control,easiest way of dimming these is to modify the built in controler,but it involves messing around with the mains side of the circuit,not for the timid



Hippy

[tiberious]

cheers - I`ll give it a crack !!

[Dominic]

i have an uplighter on a remote dimmer, just used a £25 IR dimmer from B&Q and instead of putting it on the wall i have wired it up to a 4way strip plug, then just plugged my uplighter into it, but it will dim anything (upto 200w i think)
( all you need is a standard switch back plate, about £2 and a terminal block to connect the 2 negatives togehter, and then wire the live from a normal mains lead into the input of the dimmer and the load goes to the extension lead and join the 2 negatives together and the earths screw into the dimmer.

useful at xmas too with the fairy lights as they get plugged into it so, the whole room dims down when im ready for a film

you could use a normal dimmer in the same way i guess, not as much fun though.