Converting to LED Bulbs

[Keoni]

Hi all - I sent the following to Cooper Industries with a question about LED lighting and compatibility with their dimmers. Has anyone out there had similar experience or know of a way to get things working well - even a creative solution? Also, when they respond I will post here with the results on their side. Thanks!

http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-lig...409906/prd/en/
and
http://www.usa.philips.com/c/energy-...414900/prd/en/

as well as Utilitec bulbs:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_338929-24073...ech&facetInfo=
and
http://www.lowes.com/pd_338802-75774...ductId=3341246

[Automated]

Please read my post about the different dimmer technologies.

http://forums.homeseer.com/showpost....12&postcount=3

I also have almost all LED lighting, including some of those Philips models. I solved all such issues by using Magnetic Low Voltage capable dimmers (and in two special cases Electronic Low Voltage capable dimmers). These have a connection to neutral as well as hot, so the dimmer circuit itself is much more stable and doesn't rely so much on the flow of current through the light itself to operate properly. Of course, such dimmers are more expensive and is why so many people have problems like you describe since the cheaper variety are more prevalent.

[Keoni]

Thanks for chiming in Automated. And thank you for pointing me to the excellent write-up.

The reason that I posted here is that I am using high-end dimmers - they are MLV and use neutral - paid about $100 each for them.

However, seeing your write-up, the problems I described are most commonly associated with circuits having only one LED light - and this fits in very well with what you talk about.

It looks like my next step is to try an ELV dimmer on the circuits with 2 or fewer lights. The interesting thing is that when even one low-wattage incandescent light is in the circuit using the MLV dimmer, the dimming is perfect. Makes me wonder if there is some way to add a small load to compensate.

Thank you again Automated!

[Keoni]

Hi again Automated and everyone else.

I got a couple different ELV dimmers and have some results to report. Unfortunately, and strangely, they performed worse than my existing MLV dimmers.

Dimmers Tried:
Cooper RF-9535N
Leviton VRE06-1LX

Bulbs Tried:
Philips BR30 LED
Utilitech BR30 LED

So far, I have only tried the dimmers in one location. This location is a wall switch that controls a single ceiling can light. Interestingly, the Cooper and Leviton ELV dimmers act differently with the same bulb installed. However, the result is basically the same. The Leviton will not ramp up more to more than about 25% brightness, even when at the top of the curve; the Cooper will ramp up to to about 50% brightness and then drop off and flicker / become erratic. With the Cooper MLV dimmer installed there are fits and starts in the dimming cycle, and some percentages cannot be obtained due to flickering, but the bulb can otherwise hit full brightness.

This is quite confusing but an interesting experiment. Do you possibly have a recommended combination of bulb and dimmer that worked for you in the single-fixture situation?

Thanks