Plots light level against control level. Because perceived brightness grows roughly with the square root of measured light, a linear curve looks too bright for most of its range and jumps at the bottom, so drivers offer square-law, logarithmic or custom curves. Matching dimming curves across products is essential when different fixtures share a dimmer, and stage consoles let designers set curves per channel.
Pendants and downlights are on different dimming curves, at 30 percent the pendants look twice as bright.
Also heard as
- dim curve
- dimming profile
Related terms
Driver
The electronic power supply that converts line voltage into the regulated current or voltage an LED needs.
0-10V
An analog dimming method in which a low-voltage DC signal from 0 to 10 volts sets driver output.
DALI
Digital Addressable Lighting Interface: a two-wire digital lighting control bus where each driver has its own address.
Pop-on
An LED dimming fault where fixtures stay off at low dimmer settings and then suddenly turn on at a higher level.
Warm dim
LED dimming that also lowers color temperature as light level drops, imitating the glow of a dimmed incandescent lamp.