UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Quick-and-dirty testgear: mains voltage monitor.

G6Tanuki · 24th Aug 2018, 1:06 pm

I don't know! Never having opened one of the displays up, I don't know what technology it uses as a dropper to prvide power for the LED display.

I'm thinking though - if it uses a capacitor dropper (like a lot of LED bulbs) then it could have issues in the same way as a non-dimmable LED bulb does when fed from a dimmer.

Also, the waveform from a typical dimmer is non-sinusoidal which could again compromise the display's voltage-accuracy: remember that a typical thyristor-dimmer is essentially a power-control not a peak-voltage control like a Variac - the peak voltage across a dimmer-connected load is still the full supply-voltage.

24th Aug 2018, 1:06 pm	#28
G6Tanuki Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Wiltshire, UK. Posts: 13,998	Re: Quick-and-dirty testgear: mains voltage monitor. I don't know! Never having opened one of the displays up, I don't know what technology it uses as a dropper to prvide power for the LED display. I'm thinking though - if it uses a capacitor dropper (like a lot of LED bulbs) then it could have issues in the same way as a non-dimmable LED bulb does when fed from a dimmer. Also, the waveform from a typical dimmer is non-sinusoidal which could again compromise the display's voltage-accuracy: remember that a typical thyristor-dimmer is essentially a power-control not a peak-voltage control like a Variac - the peak voltage across a dimmer-connected load is still the full supply-voltage.