As I was thinking about the different issues involved in coming up with simple LED dimming up and dimming down at [Link: remotecentral.com], I ran across a friendly Scot telling us about dodgy LEDs and in just what ways they are crap.

Not only are these videos amusing, but along the way to explaining why certain ones are crap, he discusses and shows what the issues are, using a meter and drawings to do so.

Any of us who are doing LED lighting where ANYTHING custom is involved should have a basic understanding of the concepts he discusses, and I think you can learn them from this half hour or so of videos.

The LED dimming issue has been nagging me for several years, ever since we did a home theater that took third place in the annual CEDIA awards, in the over a million dollar category... and we couldn't work out smooth dimming of the lowest twenty or so low light levels before the LEDs went totally dark.

This first video addresses something that our lighting guy on that project discussed: 20 watt LEDs draw less than 20 watts. Our guy didn't have the chops, and I didn't have the time, to look into it at the time, but it's pretty interesting as to why this is.

Enjoy.