Hello!

Recently came across a few dimmable CFLs: A Sylvania CF24EL/Twist/Dim and a Westinghouse 15Minitwist/Dim/27/3. Lovely CFLs.
Putting them through some dimmers I got at the ReStore yielded less than promising results. The Sylvania cleanly dims 100-70, but the Westinghouse buzzes and flickers angrily.

Which brings me to the question, which dimmer brands/models work best with dimmable CFLs? I'm wagering most dimmers on the shelf today that are "LED Compatible" should work fine on CFLs, but I want to make sure. (Mostly since a lot are still triac)

Can not recommend you an American model, but generally, try a modern Chinese made MOSFET dimmer. These have some advantages - firing timing is controlled by a microcontroller, and is not dependent on the load behavior, locked directly to line cycles, also you can choose leading or trailing edges. Get one in a white brick style with 1-10V control, for 230V these were rather cheap, American voltage probably too.



 

Big part of the problem is, most triac dimmers need certain minimum load, usually at least 40W, to work correctly. And that is pretty high power for the higher efficacy things like CFLs or LEDs.

But going for the trailing edge MOSFET dimmers is the only way to go.
Definitely, regardless of the switching technology, the dimmer has to be "LED rated" and with minimum power rating way below what the CFL is rated at.