dimmer for LED or CFL bulbs

atuel

Does anyone know of a good dimmer that:
- works with CFL or LED
- has some form of remote control of it (IR, X10, INSTEON, etc)
- has a fan control in a matching switch
- preferable has a brightness status indicator
- bonus if it can control a fan/light combo with a two wire line in a single gang box (usually with a canopy module)

I do have neutral at my switches, so that is not an issue.

I have been using the Lutron Maestro dimmers, but they dont work well with CFL/LED as they have no neutral connection.


I found these switchlinc that look promising: http://www.smarthome.com/2476DH/Swit...e-White/p.aspx

They dont claim LED/CFL support, but there are a few people around that say they do work well. Its also nice they have a wall module that can turn on lamps at the outlets via the wall switch.

Anyone know of anything better?

Mr Chips

Lutron CFL/LED Dimmers

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atuel

Thanks, but looks like that one only allows dimming from one location and only on/off from other locations in 3/4 way setups.

Oddly, it doesnt have a neutral connection either... I thought LED/CFL dimmers needed a neutral for proper operation?

oberkc

A fan speed control has always been on the wish list for many using X-10 and insteon. I am unaware of any. I use the switchlinc you mention, and it (or something similar) would meet all your needs except the fan control.

I think a fan control just came out in Z-wave:

http://www.zwaveproducts.com/VIZIA-RF-ZWAVE-PRODUCTS/ZWAVE-FAN-CONTROL-Switch.html

I understand that any of the Z-wave dimmers would work with dimmable CFL or LED lamps. It looks like the complete product line is described:

http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=29028&minisite=10024

atuel

The Levitron Vizia RF + off that link seem to do everything but the bonus of the fan+light combo in a 1 gang box. Like the switchlinc, they say incandescent load type with no mention of LED/CFL.

Do you have the switchlink on cfl/led? If so, what bulbs did you use and how well does the dimming work? I'm not so concerned with the fact that they wont dim as low as incandescent, but more with if it was able to dim for the range of the bulb.

oberkc

I have a house full of insteon products, including the dimmers.

I have used the dimmers on CFL. I don't like the way CFLs dimmed, including the range, but attributed this problem to the lamps rather than the switches. I have not tried dimming LED bulbs personally, but others have reported that they work fine with the insteon dimmers. All reports are that the insteon dimmers work with dimmable CFL and LED lamps. If you are interested, check out smarthome forum and perform a search on that topic.

One thing to watch out for, however, is that there is a minimum load required on many of these devices. Usually, 10w is PLENTY, but I have experienced a glow from some low-power LED lamps when the switch is off.

atuel

K... thanks for the info.

Min load isnt too much of an issue for me as all my circuits have a ton of lights on the circuit (6-15).

AndyGump

Someone makes dimmer switches that will work with both LED and CFLs?

How is that even possible?

A dimmer for an incandescent will work for a n LED this I know but we always have to get special dimmers for the CFL cans that we install.

Andy.

atuel

The Lutron ones above (not the maestro ones I have) are the only ones I've found that actually say they work on both. I dont know how well though and the compatible bulbs is limited to certains ones that Lutron picks. The list is on their web site if you want to see.

My big concern with them is they lack a neutral connection... I thought all the new code changes to require a neutral in the switch box was specifically to allow dimming of CFL/LED since the incandescents are on their way out.

All the others like the switchlinc state the supported load is incandescent, but I'm finding more and more hits of people saying they work well like above. I really wish they would officially support CFL/incandescent.

Michael Thomas

LUTRON bulb compatibility list for CL Dimmers

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