Upgrade your dimmers for quieter AC and room noise


The issue of dimmer switches and noise still comes up a lot and I thought I should share my experiences.

The old school dimmers, with sliders or turn knobs were awful, both for the AC but they often also produced a mechanical hum you could hear standing in the room with the dimmer.

I’ve modernized my house with LED bulbs and Kasa dimmer switches literally everywhere and I have to say they are both mechanically and electrically silent.

Note that I don’t think this is the case for LED lamps, or light strips, which still seem to have electrically noisy power supplies, but for the rest of the house I’ve found the modern, Alexa/Google voice compatible dimmers to be far superior.

The only time I hear any noise at all it's mechanical when turning a non-dimmer Kasa switch on or off, which I use for fans and some lights which don't need to be dimmed. 

Of course, your mileage may vary, I’ve never tried any other brands, but if you are still living with the old school, knob-type dimmer it’s time to consider an upgrade.

https://amzn.to/48lBfEv

erik_squires

PS - My HT system is outlets only, so none of the dimmers are on the same circuit.

Also, modern, dimmable LED bulbs come in a variety of color temperatures, so if you were looking to stick with a conventional bulb you have no excuse any more.

PPS - I'm not using any fluorescent bulbs either, which have very noisy ballasts built in.  Strictly dimmable LED lights, including some that are "Edison" style bulbs.