Seen this in many houses, people upgrade their lighting setup and install a dimmer. Which works. But usually it also makes the lights flicker unintentionally, which is super annoying IMO.

Now, my understanding of electrical engineering is pretty rudimentary so I’d appreciate more something that explains the concept in a way that Cavewoman Mothra can understand rather than something technically accurate.

Thanks

  • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    Power coming into the house is AC which means 50-60 times a second the power goes from +110/240V to -110/240v.

    LED lights run off DC power, so to change the power type a capacitor is somewhere that holds enough charge to keep the item working until the AC power is back to a usable positive value.

    Dimmers limit the power going to the light, so the capacitor doesn’t charge enough to keep the light and circuitry on for the full negative swing of AC power.

    This is ungodly rudimentary, and corrections are welcome. There is also many nuances I am missing.