Any Z-wave dimmers for LED bulbs?

[CeeTee]

I'm about to revamp my entire X-10 based, 20 year old HA system to a HS3 based system and need advice on dimmers.

Like x-10, Insteon offer a dimmer that can drive non-incandescent lights such as CFL's and the new LED bulbs. But I can't see anything similar in Z-Wave, do any exist?

I am told that Insteon dimmers don't last very long and that z-wave based devices are a better investment. Since I've switched all of the house main lighting to the newer Philips LED bulbs I want dimmers that can drive them.

...or do I have to consider UPB?

Any suggestions? Thanks

[Automated]

Any Z-wave dimmers for LED bulbs?

Can't resist...
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Site:forums.hom...com+zwave+led#

[CeeTee]

Thanks Automated...tried to search within the forum but lost patience last night...didn't think of Googling the forum directly. (duh)

Since you undoubtedly know what you're talking about, would you agree that Z-wave is superior to Insteon?

Should I rebuild my legacy system entirely on Z-Wave?

And one that's bugging me... can you run X-10 and Z-Wave and Insteon simultaneously, or does this create too much noise on the AC? Would be great if I could run at least two, that would allow a slower transition away from X-10.

I'm kind of a "newbie"...I'm actually an HA veteran whose system worked for two decades virtually unattended and now I have to upgrade and re-learn everything, so thanks for your patience!

[lhfarm]

I'm about to revamp my entire X-10 based, 20 year old HA system to a HS3 based system and need advice on dimmers.

Like x-10, Insteon offer a dimmer that can drive non-incandescent lights such as CFL's and the new LED bulbs. But I can't see anything similar in Z-Wave, do any exist?

I am told that Insteon dimmers don't last very long and that z-wave based devices are a better investment. Since I've switched all of the house main lighting to the newer Philips LED bulbs I want dimmers that can drive them.

...or do I have to consider UPB?

Any suggestions? Thanks

Welcome to the HomeSeer board. You will, as Automated has cleverly pointed out, find lots of discussion about dimmers and LEDs. I'm looking for bulbs that will work for with my current X-10 and Z-wave switches, so I don't have to replace everything and am just starting my research too.

Thanks for asking the question. It has reminded me that I need to get back to this project.

Barry

[CeeTee]

My contribution on LED bulbs...

Welcome to the HomeSeer board. ... I'm looking for bulbs that will work for with my current X-10 and Z-wave switches, so I don't have to replace everything and am just starting my research too.

Thanks for asking the question. It has reminded me that I need to get back to this project.

Barry

Thanks for the welcome!
Allow me to contribute what I've found on the LED bulb side:

• The first concern with LED's is finding bulbs that mimic incandescent or halogen lighting as closely as possible in terms of temperature and dispersion.
• The second concern is finding bulbs that dim half decently.
• And the third (which may be the 1st for HA) are bulbs that work with HA dimmers.

Well after hundreds and hundreds of dollars of testing I've found that the best bulbs are the Philips sold at Home Depot. I've also seen a few Youtube tear down reports by an electrical engineer who said they had excellent circuitry.

I found the Philips 11 watt household A19 excellent for a 75 watt for regular incandescent equivalence.

For halogen equivalent pot "floods": Philips 8 watt R20 and for "spots" either the tiny Philips 6 watt MR16.

I found that all of the above dim very well without flicker on both my old X-10 neutral wire inductive load dimmers and on some new new Insteon 2477's with as little as one bulb. (I'm actually quite impressed with the Insteon dimmer which is why I'm dismayed to hear people saying that most of their gear doesn't last more than 2 years ).

The only drawback is that the bulbs don't "dim down" as "linear-ly" as incadescents and their color temperature does not get warmer...i.e. no nice soft orange/golden glow.

Thanks again and cheers!
EDIT: Sorry, just realized I used the Home Depot Canada links...prices are slightly lower in the U.S.

[Mario23]

For what it's worth I recently tried a Cree LED bulb I found at Costco that only cost about $14. Its a flood that I placed in one of my kitchen high hats. It worked fine with my Leviton dimmer. I'm thinking about getting more.

[CeeTee]

For what it's worth I recently tried a Cree LED bulb I found at Costco that only cost about $14. Its a flood that I placed in one of my kitchen high hats. It worked fine with my Leviton dimmer. I'm thinking about getting more.

Yeah, I tried the Cree bulb but found its temperature colder and its not as nice as the Philips 11 watt (which is way brighter) and $1 or so more. Here's a teardown review.

Oh...and apologies, the Home Depot links I posted earlier were from their Canadian site...probably more choice on the US side and slightly cheaper to boot.

[rmasonjr]

just FYI - the Cree dimmable LEDs do not work with my Intermatic wall switch dimmers

[TomTom]

I already have GE dimmer switches(all zwave) and I found Cree LED bulbs to be good.

3way GE Dimmer - work fine in dimming, no real flickering, and no bulbs are glowing when light switched to off.

2way(Regular) GE Dimmer - works fine for dimming, Flickering can occur at times, and there is always a faint glow from ONE(only) of the bulbs.

Solution:
Example 1- in Kitchen I have 6 ceiling can lights and one of the can always has a glow even when turned off. For me that is above the sink which is great in the middle of the night. So I left it alone.
Example 2- Ceiling fixture in the living room has three bulbs in it. I need real "darkness" here, so I put 2 Cree LED bulbs and one low wattage incandescent bulb(40Watt). So there is never a faint glow from any of the bulbs. Again only a temporary solution till LED bulbs improve.

hope this helps.

[Automated]

Any Z-wave dimmers for LED bulbs?

I use Leviton Vizia RF+ switches here, and the Cree bulbs work fine with the MLV and ELV model switches.

[misraels]

I am running the cheaper LED bulbs from Home Depot and Lowes. Couldnt get them to work with the GE dimmers very well, they would some time, but not all the time. The GE relay switches work fine.

As a result, I switched things around and am using the Insteon switches for the dimmer circuits. And I have not found a LED bulb that doesnt work.

[Rick Tinker]

If the bulb is dimmable, and the dimmer is a 3 wire dimmer (not a 2 wire) then it will work. The issue is that some will flicker at low (dim) levels, and some will even behave weirdly when first turned on or turned off, but are fine after that.

Besides what has been mentioned here, Cooper dimmers work but have/had a strange flashing when first turned on and turned off with some bulbs; Cooper (now Eaton) recently came out with a dimmer specifically made to dim everything (especially LEDs) and with this one, the other issues are gone. I got a couple because I needed instant status, and the flicker issue is gone and the dimmer has all of the usual Cooper (Eaton) features.

[macromark]

Cooper RF9540-N dimmers are the only Z-Wave switches currently available that were specifically designed to work with LED bulbs. Alternately, we've had pretty good luck with the Evolve LRM-AS... which should be functionally equivalent to the Linear WD500Z.

[NeverDie]

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=145195 and some of the others in the LED sub-forum also have a lot of good info.


Performance can be judged along multiple dimensions, some of which may matter to you more than others, and the datasheets are silent on most of them. If your requirements are high, finding the right pairing can be a surprisingly nuanced decision.

[CeeTee]

...finding the right pairing can be a surprisingly nuanced decision.

...and nerve wracking if you're looking at replacing 20 dimmers and at least 15 other switches/modules.