Yes, without any trouble. A dimmable LED lamp on an ordinary switch simply burns at full power. The other way round does not work: a non-dimmable lamp on a dimmer will flicker, hum, or not come on at all.
Why it works in one direction
Being dimmable is an extra property, not a requirement. A dimmable lamp or driver contains electronics that can cope with a chopped sine wave. Give it a whole sine wave — exactly what an ordinary switch delivers — and those electronics simply do nothing special, and the lamp burns at a hundred percent.
A non-dimmable lamp lacks those electronics. Cut a piece out of the sine wave with a dimmer and the driver does not know what to do with it. That shows up as flicker, or the lamp cuts out entirely.
Are you paying too much for dimmable?
A little, and it is usually worth it. Dimmable spots cost slightly more because there is more inside the driver. But you then do not have to replace the spots later if you decide you want a dimmer after all — only the switch.
That is the cheaper order of events. Changing the switch is a ten-minute job at the fuse box; pulling every spot out of a ceiling is not.
Our dimmable spots
These list a dimmable driver, and all of them burn perfectly well on an ordinary switch too:
- Lesto — Triac dimmable driver, 4 or 6 watts, €12.95
- Lyvo — 500 or 700 lm, €16.95
- Warmo — Dim2Warm plus CCT, €16.95
- Marlo — Ø55 mm, 350 lm, €14.95
- Vigo — Dim2Warm from 3000K to 2000K, €14.95
One function you miss without a dimmer
With Dim2Warm the color temperature drops as you dim. The Vigo runs from 3000K to 2000K as you turn it down. Without a dimmer it stays permanently at 3000K, so you have a good spot but not the function you paid for.
If you buy Dim2Warm, buy the dimmer with it. Otherwise you may as well take an ordinary CCT spot.
The reverse mistake costs you an evening
By far the most complaints about flickering spots come from a dimmer sitting in front of a non-dimmable lamp, or from an old halogen dimmer still on the wall. A dimmer like that only starts working from 20 to 40 watts, and six 5-watt LED spots never reach that threshold.
The fix is a dimmer with a low lower limit: our 0.5-250W at €21.95 or the 0.5-160W at €24.95. Both start at half a watt, so a single spot is enough. See also Why does your LED lamp flicker?
Watch the socket, not just the fixture
On a spot with an integrated LED, the dimmability sits in the driver supplied with it, and it is stated on the product. On a fixture with a GU10 socket, the electronics sit in the lamp you screw in, and that lamp decides whether it dims.
That difference gets missed a lot. You can hang a perfectly good GU10 fixture on a dimmer and still get flicker, simply because there is a non-dimmable lamp in it. In that case check the lamp packaging before you start fiddling with the dimmer.
Smart switching is something else
There are lamps you dim with an app or remote control instead of a wall dimmer. Our Dovo sets work that way: their own power supply with a remote. So you do not need a wall dimmer for those, and putting an ordinary dimmer in the circuit is actually wrong.
So always check whether the dimming sits in the lamp or in the wall. One solution rules out the other.
In short
Dimmable on a switch: no problem. Non-dimmable on a dimmer: a problem. If you are unsure whether you will ever dim, buy dimmable — it is the cheapest way to avoid regret later. The range is with the recessed spotlights, the dimmers with the accessories.
Does a dimmable LED lamp break on an ordinary switch?
No. It simply burns at full power; the dimming electronics do nothing.
Can a non-dimmable lamp go on a dimmer?
Better not. It will flicker or hum, and the driver runs outside its working range.
Is a Dim2Warm spot worth it without a dimmer?
Only partly. Without a dimmer it stays at its highest color temperature and you never use the function.