Dimmable led and cfl issues

[mark32]

A couple of weeks ago I installed four 6" high hats and fitted them with dimmable led retro fit kits. Customer wanted them on a dimmer so I installed a dimmer that says it's specifically meant to dim dimmable led's and cfl's. Once the circuit was energized none of the led's would dim. I then pulled one of them out and screwed in an incandescent and all four bulbs dimmed. How can this be explained? Today I went to another customer's house (Not a job I did, I was more of a consultant) where cust installed well over 50 dimmable cfl's, I don't believe any of them worked properly, most wouldn't even light up, some flashed every few seconds, and the ones that actually lit would not dim at all. What is going on with these eco bulbs?

 

[BullsnPyrs]

With LED and CFL lamps you have to match the dimmer to the the lamp. Check the manufacturer's reccommendations for the proper dimmer.CFL's rarely dim as low as incandescant lamps do. They tend to flicker when you exceed thier dimming limits.

 

[T.M.Haja Sahib]

A couple of weeks ago I installed four 6" high hats and fitted them with dimmable led retro fit kits. Customer wanted them on a dimmer so I installed a dimmer that says it's specifically meant to dim dimmable led's and cfl's. Once the circuit was energized none of the led's would dim. I then pulled one of them out and screwed in an incandescent and all four bulbs dimmed. How can this be explained? Today I went to another customer's house (Not a job I did, I was more of a consultant) where cust installed well over 50 dimmable cfl's, I don't believe any of them worked properly, most wouldn't even light up, some flashed every few seconds, and the ones that actually lit would not dim at all. What is going on with these eco bulbs?

The manufacturer of that dimmable LED's may be consulted for specific brands of dimmers to be used with them.

Oh.The above suggestion was already posted.So I want to add that the CFL's should not be left flickering,as that would reduce their life.

 

[charlie b]

I had a lighting controls vendor (Lutron) visit my office yesterday, specifically because I have a client who wants LEDs everywhere. I needed to learn about controlling LEDs, and in particular about dimming them. Part of what I learned is that this is a more complicated situation than you might expect. For example, two types of dimming controls are (1) digital, and (2) analog 0-10 volt signal, and those two are mutually incompatible. But even if the control and LED both use the 0-10 volt signal, how a particular LED reacts at each voltage input will vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer. What you need to do is speak with the lighting control vendor and with the light fixture vendor, to make sure you have a compatible setup.

 

[sd4524]

Check the MINIMUM watts for that dimmer. I had a customer that had 3 led lights over kitchen island and they were flickering. By screwing a 50 watt incadescent into one housing, the flickering stopped. The type of flickering was similar to having one 20 watt mr16 lamp controlled by a dimmer. Most lutron dimmers have 40 w minimum rating. I think the dimmer doesn't recognize the load when its too low?

 

[mark32]

Okay, after some minor research I found that the "Dimmable LED and CFL" dimmer has a thumb wheel on the side that is used to help "Dial" in the bulb. Here's a link:

http://www.lutron.com/Education-Training/LCE/Pages/DimmingCFLsandLEDs.aspx

Unfortunately the customer I mentioned already replaced the bulbs and dimmers so I cannot offer such advice to him but I maybe able to do some r&d myself with these components and see how effective this wheel is, referring to the manufacturer's recommended bulb list should help as well Thanks for the replies.

 

[WIMaster]

Sounds all too familiar http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=141322 !

 

[mark32]

WIMaster, I see you too had similar issues. By the way, I checked the list of compatible bulbs for this Lutron dimmer and indeed the bulb this cust had used was on it!?

 

[1793]

Check the MINIMUM watts for that dimmer. I had a customer that had 3 led lights over kitchen island and they were flickering. By screwing a 50 watt incadescent into one housing, the flickering stopped. The type of flickering was similar to having one 20 watt mr16 lamp controlled by a dimmer. Most lutron dimmers have 40 w minimum rating. I think the dimmer doesn't recognize the load when its too low?

Working with a lighting design fellow now on a big job using LED's with dimmers & remote dimmers and I'm getting quite an education.

I'm also leaning towards this as the problem. Try to increase the load and see if it helps.

 

[WIMaster]

That does make sense I have never thought to look at the minimum rating always the max. New lights new issues.