I recently had a professional electrician install a ceiling fan with a light fixture. The fan and light are controlled from a combo switch with two knobs – one is a dimmer switch for the light, and one is a three-speed fan control.
What I have observed is that if the dimmer switch is completely off, when I go to turn it on, the light does not turn on until the dimmer switch reaches about 50%. Once the light comes on, I can turn the dimmer switch down below 50%, and the light will dim as expected.
In a previous house I lived in, I had a ceiling fan light fixture controlled by a dimmer switch that did not have this problem. So I'm curious what might be different in the new setup that is causing this behavior?
I'm using the bulbs that came with the fan, and they are incandescent, so there shouldn't be any problem with the bulbs, as far as I know…
Best Answer
Many dimmers have an adjustment for the minimum level. You don't mention what type of dimmer you have but you can consult the instructions on how to adjust this. As @dslake mentions in his answer, adjustments might be via a knob or screw, but if it's digital, it could also be a button sequence.
Needing to perform this is more common with electronic dimmer switches since they need to work for many different types of bulbs (incandescent, CFL, LED).