Is that Home Depot dimable LED bulb you mention compatible with our digital z-wave dimmers?
It works my ACT and GE dimmers with no problem.
I’ve been using LED lighting products in my commercial buildings and personal residence for years and wasted a lot of money along the way in doing so. The product is still emerging and there are a lot of poor quality products out there but it will evolve. Several companies are working on coatings to improve efficiency rather than the electronic technology so don’t expect to see regular looking incandescent bulbs to disappear.
My biggest complaint of LED’s would have to be the price, but all new technology is expensive at the beginning.
Next would be light output vs a regular incandescent. The better quality units are even brighter than their incandescent counterparts.
Next would be the Color Rendering Index. Good quality units are very good, cheaper units have a blue tint which they use to make it look brighter.
Last would be longevity / lumen output vs time. Even some expensive units, $59+ tend to lose lumen output over a short period of time.
The better quality units do not dim. YET.
The ones that do dim MAY pose a problem or even destroy SOME dimmers.
What we are using in our buildings now and I’m sure there are better and cheaper units out there (let me know if you have any info) are the Diogens. Very high lumen output / watt. Good CRI and ones I have had in my house now for 14 months are still bright, no yellowing of the lens and no single led lamp failure. 14 watts vs 75 watts for the Par 38 and 10 watts vs 60 watts for the A-19. I’m also using the 4’ fluorescent type lamps in my garage but it does tend to have a slight flicker and the wife hates it. The Par 38’s have a plastic lens vs glass for the last ones I used but the lumen output for the glass ones diminished over a period of about 9 months.
They are all made in China so don’t let that steer your decision.
The payback period for using LED over incandescent will be a LONG time, probably not worth buying just for saving electric in the home, commercial buildings the payback is still about 4 yrs and what we take into consideration is the not only the electric costs but also heat gain vs A/C run times and the biggest factor is labor costs to change the bulb. Also commercial buildings typically run their lighting for longer periods which also contributes to a quicker payback.
Phase out schedule:
January 2009 — single-pin fluorescent 8-foot slimline (old style T8s) 65 watts or less, and 8-foot high-output lamps of any wattage.
July 1, 2010 — most reflector lamps over 50 watts (except for a few that are 65 watts), and magnetic ballasts for many standard fluorescent lamps.
January 1, 2012 — 100- and 150-watt incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps with a CRI below 80.
January 1, 2013 — 75-watt incandescent lamps.
January 1, 2014 — 40- and 60-watt incandescent lamps.
JOD.
Am using it with a Leviton z-wave dimmer. Works.
The EcoSmart bulbs buzzed like crazy when I tested them on my Leviton lamp modules and Intermatic wall dimmers. I returned them for a refund. Maybe I’ll go buy another one and test it with my Leviton and Cooper wall dimmers even though I don’t need an LED in the fixtures they control.
Was in Home Depot and noticed that Philips is selling 40 Watt incandescent and halogen bulbs with the light output equivalent of 60 Watts. Tried the Philips incandescent and it was impressive. Of course, they worked perfectly with my Intermatic HA20C Z-wave switch and my X-10 switches. Price for a package of two of these bulbs: $2.97. Price for one Philips LED 12 Watt (60 Watt-equivalent) bulb: $39.97. I’m a big LED fan and I know prices for LED lighting will be coming down, but right now, no way are you going to make up the $37 price difference in energy savings.
I picked up a few some 40w and 60w equivalent led bulbs for a few of the dimmable lights that I use most often. The 60W (40 dollars) bulbs are very impressive and have had no issues with working with my dimmers and lamp modules. However the 40w versions were a hit or miss. For example when they are used with the leviton dimmer switches, I can not either have them at 100% brightness or the dimmer would act all crazy. There were other lamps that would tend to flicker with the 40w version. This did not happen with the 60w version. I only wish the 60w bulbs were as nice looking at the 40w models.
- Garrett
Also, there is no reason in running the wrong dimmer for your bulbs and possibly ruining the dimmers you paid good money for. There have been a lot of posts from people saying that they are using their standard incandescent dimmers to control devices that they are not designed to control. Levition dimmers can handle incandescent and magnetic low-voltage, but not dimmable CFLs (special dimmer for those). Where Intermatic dimmers can handle incandescent only. Sure it might work for a while, but how well and at what cost?
Will (non-dimmable) LED bulbs work in a Leviton 5A on/off z-wave switch (no neutral)? They’re billed as “incandescent” switches, but I already have a lot of these installed and would like to replace some of the 60W bulbs with A19 LED bulbs.
Thanks!
I would suspect not. The ZWave switches that do not require a neutral get their power (for the ZWave radio) by passing current throught the incandescent light, at a low enough voltage that the light does not light. I would think the non-dimmable LED lights would not like that constant low voltage. I would also think that dimmable LEDs could tolerate that constant low voltage.
Hopefully ESL bulbs will take off before the Incandescent bulbs are history…
I second that. I had a so called dimmable CFL smoke a lamp module.
[quote=“Pierre.bln, post:4, topic:166578”][quote=“mikemsd, post:1, topic:166578”]I know there are dimmable CFLs, however does anyone know how these react with the GE dimmers that lack the neutral wire connection? The only thing I hate is that the dimmable CFLs are much more expensive than the regular CFLs.[/quote]
Hi,
Juste be very careful with dimmable CFLs. Many of these are “dimmable except with eletronic variators” (which essentially are home automation dimmers in z-wave or X10).
At least this is the case in Europe (where bulbs are also being banned year by year, it has already started with 120W bulbs).
There are very few dimmable lights compatible with home automation devices to my knowledge. I struggled for example to find (good) led spots compatible with my X10/Z-wave dimmers. Only one line of product has passed the test: the “Master Led” series from Philips (altough i kinda doubt they are available in 110V).
Another point, whichever technology you use, is that most home auto dimmers have a “minimum power” rating (basically, they don’t work if the bulb doesn’t consume enough). I have had the issue precisely with the power leds: only one bulbs draws 7W, but my dimmer is rated for 20W minimum…[/quote]