CL dimmers and customers

[PetrosA]

I'm just curious whether anyone has had negative feedback from customers about the time delay with CL dimmers. I have a customer now who has me installing dimmers throughout his house (Diva style) and whereas the single poles (DV600P) turn on instantly, the DVCL153P has about a half second delay on any of the three way switches. This is annoying the customer to the point where he's trying to talk me into calling around to supply houses to find DV603Ps that might still be on the shelves. While I find the customer irritating, I do see his point. What's worse, if he were to install LEDs on these switches, the delay would increase to a whole second or more.

Who at Lutron decided it would be a good idea to make a light switch that doesn't turn on right away?

 

[ptonsparky]

I have LED & CFL on switches and they both seem to take a short time to come ON. The LED at least come on full bright or close to it. The CFL eventually get there. Throw a dimmer in the mix and it just has to exasperate the problem. Now had multiple dimming locations plus the ON/OFF and something somewhere has to slow up.

No solution from me.

 

[gar]

140412-1128 EDT

Disassemble one of the dimmers and see if it uses a microprocessor.

.

 

[ceknight]

I'm just curious whether anyone has had negative feedback from customers about the time delay with CL dimmers. I have a customer now who has me installing dimmers throughout his house (Diva style) and whereas the single poles (DV600P) turn on instantly, the DVCL153P has about a half second delay on any of the three way switches. ...

Yes, had a big problem with it this past winter, kitchen and DR full of LED retrofits on 2 3W runs. I had made sure the Divas were on the tested/approved list for the LEDs before I installed them.
Not only was there the delay, but sometimes instead of a delay there was a momentary burst of full brightness from the LEDs before the dimmer control kicked in. Customer freaked out the first time it happened.

Had a few chats with Pete Faas at Lutron, turns out that somewhere along the line -- but after the compatibility testing -- they redesigned the Diva CL switch with a microprocessor, and it had to power up first. The only solution that worked was downgrading to the uglier Skylark switches.

The customer preferred the ugly switch over being blinded first thing in the morning.

 

[PetrosA]

What gets me riled up is that the regular dimmers work with an awful lot of LEDs out there just fine. It looks like my regular supply house is getting down to the last few pieces of the DV600P's and we'll be forced to buy the DVCL crap. I think forced obsolescence makes me even madder than planned obsolescence :rant:

 

[Sierrasparky]

Holy cow , I have not seen the delay. I suppose I have old ones.
Is there plan to correct this?

 

[PetrosA]

Holy cow , I have not seen the delay. I suppose I have old ones.
Is there plan to correct this?

I spoke with one of the managers at my supply house about it and he told me that it's a common complaint and that he has contacted Lutron about it. Supposedly they are aware of the complaints, but no info regarding whether or not they intend to do anything about it.

I'm seeing about a 0.5-0.75 sec. delay with incandescent lamps, longer delays with LEDs (many of which already have a built-in delay before starting). Interestingly I discovered that if the light is on, and you quickly flick the rocker off and back on, the light comes on instantly for a fraction of a second, then goes back off, then comes on with the standard delay. I know, not useful, but interesting...

I think the problem for many customers is that the length of delay built into these dimmers is almost long enough to make you think the power's out. For the homeowners, it probably is something they'll get used to. For a visitor, I wouldn't be surprised if they flifk the switch a few times thinking the bulb is burned out.

On one job I did, there were two kinds of LEDs connected to the same dimmer - Juno 5" recessed LEDs and Seagull retrofit surface mounted ones. Each had a different delay built into them, plus the dimmer's delay. When you turn the lights on, it's like a cascading effect of lights coming on in the room.

 

[RichB]

I spoke with one of the managers at my supply house about it and he told me that it's a common complaint and that he has contacted Lutron about it. Supposedly they are aware of the complaints, but no info regarding whether or not they intend to do anything about it.

I'm seeing about a 0.5-0.75 sec. delay with incandescent lamps, longer delays with LEDs (many of which already have a built-in delay before starting). Interestingly I discovered that if the light is on, and you quickly flick the rocker off and back on, the light comes on instantly for a fraction of a second, then goes back off, then comes on with the standard delay. I know, not useful, but interesting...

I think the problem for many customers is that the length of delay built into these dimmers is almost long enough to make you think the power's out. For the homeowners, it probably is something they'll get used to. For a visitor, I wouldn't be surprised if they flifk the switch a few times thinking the bulb is burned out.

On one job I did, there were two kinds of LEDs connected to the same dimmer - Juno 5" recessed LEDs and Seagull retrofit surface mounted ones. Each had a different delay built into them, plus the dimmer's delay. When you turn the lights on, it's like a cascading effect of lights coming on in the room.

:?flifk??:roll:I don't find that in any of my job sight slang or DICNAVAB (Dictionary of Naval Abbreviations):thumbsup: Thanks for the giggle this morning!!

 

[GoldDigger]

I do not find it in "Bell Environment Acronym Report - Human User Guide" either.

Tapatalk!

 

[PetrosA]

I thought about fixing it, then decided not to. Seems I made the funner decision

Here's a short video I took today of the delay for those of you who haven't witnessed it firsthand.