"Alarm is on" Light

[John Brumleve]

Hi Guys,

> Don't plug transformers into a lamp dimmer. At least not ones you
plan  
> to keep around. 
> They make transformers that can withstand the heating ... 

I guess that was the rub.  I have some low-voltage lights 
(*heavy* transformer) on an ordinary X10 Dimmer: they only 
sing when dimmed, but those lights are "never" dimmed, they 
are only commanded to run at 0% or 100%, seemingly without ill effect.
Additionally, they have nothing more than a big transformer, with no
other circuitry for voltage regulation or DC conversion, etc.

If you want to see some weird behavior, try running one of those
lamps with a cheap built-in dimmer (ex: cheap torchiers) from a lamp
module: You can almost see the tug-of-war for control when both
dimmers are dimmed concurrently. ("Don't try this at home, kids:
we're professionals")  Behavior with one of those diode 50% dimmers 
is also very "interesting".

> While I do ... some brands don't like it at all 

... not good for the gander, huh.
This empasizes the approach of trial-with-caution.  
My guess is that the smaller the wall wart, the more 
likely it is to burn out.

I'll let this one brew...

Thanks!
John