Can you get 'smart' dimable edison filament style bulbs?

danlightbulb · 17 Oct 2020 at 20:46

Hi all,

I want to (fairly cheaply) improve the lighting in my living room. Its only a rented place so Im just looking at table/floor standing lamps.

I really like the 'edison' filament style bulbs, and some of the lamps Im looking at come with these. but not with dimmers. A '6W' (60W equivalent) bulb is fine for some situations but other times I want to dim it right down so you get the antique filament look.

How can I achieve this? Can you get the Hue style bulbs in this style?

Or, how easy is it to swap an inline switch with an inline dimmer? The dimmer would have to be able to dim LED bulbs right down low so you can see the fake filaments.

Skully · 17 Oct 2020 at 21:12

Yes, Philips Hue

https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/products/vintage-filament-led-bulbs

tres · 17 Oct 2020 at 21:12

You can get a lightwave smart dimmer switch

danlightbulb · 17 Oct 2020 at 21:25

Cool just what Im looking for thanks. How low do they dim, do you get the really antique look that they suggest in the photos?

danlightbulb · 18 Oct 2020 at 15:45

In the old days, when a light/lamp fitting said 'max 60W' (or whatever number), it was because of heat.

If a modern fitting says max 4W. They mean 4W LED of course. But a 4W, or even 6W/7W LED, creates barely any heat and draws very little current.

Is it safe to exceed these when using LED bulbs?

Why am I asking this - the table lamp I just bought from Argos says max 4W. But the Philips Hue bulb is a 7W bulb. Its an open design (no shade) so I really can't see it being limited, in reality, to a current draw of just 17 milli Amps. (4W/230V = 0.017 A).

Ninco! · 18 Oct 2020 at 18:37

The Hue filament bulbs will give you the look you are after.

You can dim using the app. I found relying solely on Bluetooth a bit hit and miss so bought a Bridge and use the App to control. It's perfect now and just works. Whereas with the bulbs and app - It was a bit finicky so I got a Bridge and its so much simpler.

Got a couple of rooms with naked bulbs hanging from the pendant and no light shades, so bought a couple of globe filament bulbs as a stop gap - they look pretty cool. Buying bulbs, you can always take them with you when you next move.

danlightbulb · 18 Oct 2020 at 21:51

I really don't want to be bothered by needing an app to dim my bloody lights. Its just one table lamp. I just want a simple dimmer switch. Its doing my head in.

jpaul · 18 Oct 2020 at 22:07

the hue filaments are too warm for me 2700K, and only 500odd lumens, so you need several - I want tuneable white so tht you can eat to them too, too
consider an uplighter in the living room, or diffused shades where you can get a tuneable hue bulb ? some sales are still on.

danlightbulb · 18 Oct 2020 at 22:41

I already have a main light with standard LED bulbs in and that's fine for when I want the room bright. At night, I just want my one lamp on, but sometimes I want it up a bit brighter and sometimes I want it right down low, almost off but not quite, and with that nice orange filament glow. Probably no brighter than a candle or two.

jpaul · 19 Oct 2020 at 17:19

if you are in spitting distance of ikea their tradfiri maybe a good option

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tradfr...e-warm-glow-globe-brown-clear-glass-70455676/
plus a £6 paired button remote, and it's all zigbee if you get a hub down the line., or dimmer kit is probably better value - bulb for £4

edit: ok ikea delivery is cheaper than i thought £2

danlightbulb · 20 Oct 2020 at 10:50

jpaul said:
if you are in spitting distance of ikea their tradfiri maybe a good option

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tradfr...e-warm-glow-globe-brown-clear-glass-70455676/
plus a £6 paired button remote, and it's all zigbee if you get a hub down the line., or dimmer kit is probably better value - bulb for £4

edit: ok ikea delivery is cheaper than i thought £2

I would have gone for an Ikea bulb but they only do one type of filament style bulb and its a bit small. I'm after a larger globe bulb.

danlightbulb · 20 Oct 2020 at 12:50

A Philips Hue bulb in the style I want, plus a local dimmer switch for it, is £38:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Fi...1&keywords=hue+g93&qid=1603192568&sr=8-1&th=1

(I think its ok to link Amazon here, as OCUK don't sell this product).

What I want to know is how low the bulb goes. Its a 7W bulb, does it dim to 0.7W, i.e 10%?

jpaul · 20 Oct 2020 at 13:43

google says 5% min diimming for hue colour...

but £38 ! ... big premium

yes that ikea one has a too low ligh output, a halfway, semi-filament 800 lumen one for £15
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tradfr...spectrum-white-spectrum-globe-clear-30408470/

you can/should post amazon links with just the product id eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0xxxxxxx and strip the tracking - I don't click tracked links

danlightbulb · 20 Oct 2020 at 14:48

That bulb won't look very nice in an exposed lamp.

The Philips one seems like the only solution I have but its bloody expense. If I wanted another one upstairs, that's another £38 for bulb and dimmer.

It shouldn't be this hard to get a table lamp with a dimmer switch on.

bainbridge · 20 Oct 2020 at 19:27

We had exactly the same issue in our previous place, which was rented. I bought a dimmable led bulb and a led dimmer switch for around £10-£15 for both. Replaced standard light switch with dimmer switch, fitted new bulb and this was perfect.

When it was time to move out I refitted the standard switch and liked the dimmable led and switch so much it's illuminating our living room right now.

danlightbulb · 20 Oct 2020 at 23:18

bainbridge said:
We had exactly the same issue in our previous place, which was rented. I bought a dimmable led bulb and a led dimmer switch for around £10-£15 for both. Replaced standard light switch with dimmer switch, fitted new bulb and this was perfect.

When it was time to move out I refitted the standard switch and liked the dimmable led and switch so much it's illuminating our living room right now.

It similar issue but not quite. I want a table lamp. There are low power dimmer switches around for replacing normal wall switches with, and obviously there are loads of LED bulbs around. If you have lights with shades it doesn't matter what bulb you get.

But I want a table lamp with a filament style bulb, and no shade. In the day it will be on full brightness, and at night I want it barely visible for decoration lighting really.

Every in line dimmer switch I can find is overrated for power. A single LED bulb would need a dimmer rated for probably 0.1W to 10W. However the minimum seems to be 4W. It will barely dim the bulb at that rating. They seem to be designed for multiple lights on a string, not single bulbs.

The electronics for dimming a single bulb must be barely anything, Philips hue manage to fit them inside the bulb base for god sake! Yet no-one makes a dimmer which will dim this low.