I wanted to get more light output from the dimmable lights on my Furman Power conditioners. Unfortunately it was not a plug and play mod. The short answer is the dimming circuit is a leading edge type with a triac. They work great for halogens and incandescent bulbs, but not LEDs. This is because the triac component requires a minimum load current to turn on its Gate. LEDS are super energy efficient and present almost no load current. The simple fix is to add 20 kohm 5 watt resistors to the light tubes in parallel. This will load down the triac with enough current to turn on and smooth out the level of dimming when you use the knob. I went with a 5 watt resistor because the resistor will get warm, but not overly hot. 20k ohm dissipates about 0.7 watts at 120VAC, and a 5 watt rating makes sure it does not get too hot for comfort. I did use 2 watt resistors in my other Furman, and while that works the resistors get very hot (150F) that I didn't like. I put two of those in series for 40k ohms and it worked fine, though the dimming knob did not have as smooth response to the dimming levels.
Bottom line, great mod, but annoying and more difficult to do because of an antiquated circuit design and the disassembly procedure that most may not be comfortable with. Any questions please leave a comment!
www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/30...
LED Lights: www.amazon.com/dp/B08BP71F8Y
Load Resistors: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...