Ge Dimmer with LED light bulbs?

Other Devices & Integrations Lighting & Load Control
1

Hi everyone,

Im searching around, but what is the latest and greatest trick to use dimmable LED light bulbs with the GE ZWave Dimmer?

2

I use with philips led lamps without flicks and problems.

3

My only issue is when I turn the lights off, they stay on albeit very dim, but there’s constant power flowing through the bulbs. Now I know LED’s use next to nothing for power consumption, so even if they stay on 24/7 would be nothing, but I’d rather them turn off.

I don’t really understand what would cause them not to turn off.

4

For general background on the problem, you may want to do a search in google like:
site:forum.micasaverde.com led dimmer

And for the gory details, this specific thread:
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=9262.10

5

The simple answer is that the GE dimmer and other dimmers that do NOT use a neutral wire at the switch should not be used for dimming LEDs.

Use an Evolve LRM-AS Dimmer. It looks like a GE switch, it utilizes a neutral wire, and it dims dimmable LED bulbs properly.

The more expensive Leviton VRI06-1LZ Vizia RF + will also work.

6

If you must use a dimmer without a neutral wire, you have to build a dummy load on the circuit. Basically a resistor that is chewing up 25W at all times to keep the bulbs from taking in a small amount of power.