Soft-start for mains LEDs?

[peterdeco1]

I'm sorry I wasn't clear in my original post. Of course I didn't do the brightness thing with an LED replacement bulb. It was to slowly start an AC motor but the same process would work with AC lighting.

[Jerson]

Hi Anand

The LED bulb which you speak about may be of the non-dimmable variety. These will turn on at a certain operating voltage. They are NOT dimmable.

There are other LED bulbs which are dimmable in the old-traditional way. These are a different breed altogether and you will find them on ebay/such

Techniques - I do remember seeing dedicated ICs for doing such kind of dimming from a phase angle dimmed voltage wave.

Jerson

[ardhuru]

Peter, I *was* referring to the control of replacement bulbs; in the late 70's a TI watch with an LED display was my most prized possession too!

Jerson, thanks for that; thats a very conclusive answer. I'll do more research on the kind of LED bulbs which are dimmable.

Thanks again, guys.