There are different types of dimmer switches in the market depending on the dimming principle adopted, which can be categorized into PSR (primary side regulation) and SSR (secondary side regulation) dimming. PSR can control the amount of power flowing into the circuit directly to adjust on the brightness; whereas SSR controls the amount of power sent to the light source through wires or wirelessly from the secondary side of the circuit in the driver to modify the brightness.
What needed to be aware of is that though people usually refer dimmer switch and dimmer to the same equipment, these two are not the same in terms of functionality. Switch normally implies to equipment with the function of cutting off power, whereas dimmer simply possesses the function of brightness adjustment. This means that dimmer switch has the functions of a dimmer, but a dimmer may not be able to bring all functions of dimmer switch into play.
Phase cut dimming system is more frequently seen in the range of PSR dimming, which can be further defined to leading edge (forward phase) dimming and trailing edge (reverse phase) dimming. On the other side, there are many systems in collaboration with one another in SSR, including 0-10V, DALI, and RDM. Each system is being deemed as a language which requires translation to communicate. Though some users utilize gateway to allow communication in between systems, this method is not widely used.
The first step to choose the right dimmer is to make sure the kind of dimming your lighting system is compatible to. If you are using phase control dimming system, you can get more information on How to Select the Perfect LED Dimmer– Phase Control Dimming / Phase-Cut Dimming here.
