Why can I not use ordinary fluorescent bulbs with dimmers?
Electronic lamps have an electronic inverter circuit that raises the main voltage of the grid and at the same time changes its frequency, operating at a much higher frequency. Unlike ordinary incandescent bulbs where the amount of light depends simply on the applied voltage, the circuit is sensitive to voltage in electric lamps. When the voltage drops below a certain value it simply stops working and with that the lamp goes off. Thus, it is not possible to control the brightness of these lamps by simply controlling the input voltage as in the case with the dimmers. Likewise, the brightness of fluorescent lamps does not just depend on the voltage. If we lower the voltage too much with the dimmer the lamp does not ionize and with that it totally extinguishes. So we do not have a brightness control. In addition, there is the danger of the electronic lamp inverter circuit burning by the dimmer.
