I've become rather attached to the dimmable lights in my home, but I'm thinking about upgrading with dimmable LED bulbs as the incandescent ones are becoming less available.
I know that it will be a considerable investment of time and money (more-so time) to upgrade, so I wanted to ask if the hardware can do what I want.
Basically, I use my dimmer-switches to turn down the intensity of the lights in the bedroom and bathroom to somewhere near that of a single candleflame so that I can go about my business getting ready for bed and make night-time trips to the bathroom with minimal exposure to light.
I'm wondering if this is possible with dimmable LED bulbs without experiencing flickering or the like.
Best Answer
Here's what I did:
I went to a certain big box store known for its 'Treasure Hunt' atmosphere and, pre-pandemic, free samples
I bought a 'feit electric dimmer switch 2 pack'
I installed them. It was really easy, though it does require a neutral.
I purchased the a large box of 'feit electric soft white led dimmable bulbs. The new ones light up to the base (similar to the old incandescent bulbs and look much better). Conveniently, my local utility was subsidizing them, so I think that they were really cheap.
Here's a similar product: https://www.feit.com/product/800-lumen-2700k-dimmable-led-8/
Total cost was less than $50, and I think that some of these parts have gotten cheaper since.
Note: I've reliability issues with the LED bulbs with the plastic bases -- perhaps my fixtures are too hot, but I find that they often flicker or crack and die.
On another note: I have a few boxes of incandescent bulbs that I'd be happy to get rid of -- I run a bunch of hallway lights 24/7, and installing LED lights is a huge win, even over compact fluorescent.