I currently only have a Veralite and a Kwikset lock in my house. I’m looking to add lighting control as well.
All the lights in my house are Ecosmart CR6 from home depot. In other threads it said these work well with Leviton dimmers (among others). First which Leviton dimmer are you guys referring too? There are a bunch of model numbers some which appear to be discontinued and I am having a hard time figuring out which one is best for my LEDs
Also, when looking for the Leviton dimmers it appears to going rate is 50-60 bucks per dimmer on various websites. It also appears that they are available for 25 bucks direct from Leviton. Am i missing something?
Sorry for the newbie questions!
The Leviton ZWave gear has very specific product designations. You need to ensure they have “Vizia RF+” listed on them, as they also have a “Vizia” line that’s not ZWave, but has the same form-factor, and are a lot cheaper (but won’t work on your ZWave network)
VRCS4-MRX - 4x Button Scene controller (with 1x Switched load
VRI06 - 600W Dimmer (no neutral)
VRI10 - 1000W Dimmer (no neutral)
VRS15 - 15A Relay Switch (neutral)
VRF01 - Fan controller (Inductive load)
I have a lot of the above and, depending upon the LED bulb you have, you may need a counter load on the circuit). There are discussions on the forums here about this. I have a few setup with 4-6 bulbs in each (varying types) and they seem to work “ok”, not brilliantly.
If you have less bulbs, then it may work but it’s going to be trial-and-error.
Then you get the exotics:
VRE06 - 600W Electronic Low Voltage (neutral)
VRM10 - 1000W Magnetic Low Voltage (neutral?)
I have, but haven’t yet installed, a couple of VRE06’s. These were recommended to me on another board for use with LED’s. They substantially more expensive per switch, but I plan on using them in cases where I want clean LED dimming and, if they work, it’ll be worth it to me.
I use the VRI06 on EarthLED dimmable LEDs in a 7x3Watt config.
I typically have 4 - 6 lights on a dimmer. That should be somewhere between 80 to 120W Load.
Not as much dynamic range as the incandescent bulbs.
They are 25’ high in the ceiling and I never wanted to go back up there!
I typically put one incandescent bulb in a set of compact flash in any on/off config.
You need a minimum of about 10W of resistive load for the devices to work properly.
(A resistor or incandescent lamp works well).
Long time lurker, second time poster. Thanks to all!
I have 6 CREE CR6-0457E, commonly known as the CR6-575L. They are popular can-light retrofits avaiable at HD. I think these are similar to yours, OP.
Here is the PDF from the CREE website. I found a document labeled “CR_Downlights_Dimming_Compatibility.pdf” [url=http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/Cree/Lighting/Dimming/CR_Downlights_Dimming_Compatibility.pdf]http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/Cree/Lighting/Dimming/CR_Downlights_Dimming_Compatibility.pdf[/url]
They list the Leviton Vizia VPI06 (I understand the plus symbol and RF are sometimes significant as they denote Z-Wave Compatible)
From the PDF: "The CR Series LED Downlights is designed to be dimmed with standard incandescent type dimmers, and is also compatible with most Magnetic Low Voltage (MLV) and Electronic Low Voltage (ELV) type dimmers. "
I however am sick of my flickering GE/JASCO dimmer. I may wind up having to replace one light should it fail, which may result in a mixed batch. So I’m almost ready to pull the trigger and go all out and getting the pricer ELV dimmer (Leviton VRE06-1LX Vizia RF +)
I also found an excellent chart on Homeseer on the compatibility of different dimmers ([url=http://store.homeseer.com/store/x-W16C64.aspx]http://store.homeseer.com/store/x-W16C64.aspx[/url])
Edit: detail.
We have the Feit/Utilitech PAR30 LED’s (through Costco) on VRE06’s. Works great.
Works almost great with VRM10’s (have not tried VRMX1), but it appears there are some levels which cause a slight instability at times. In certain places, like the hallway, we basically have the lights come on at a set level through a motion sensor (and not for very long), or we manually have them go full blast when cleaning, etc. As we don’t need all levels to be perfectly stable, the VRM10 suffices there. It runs 3 of them, which I believe is 3x13.5W, or right at the minimum load.
They do not work with the VRI06’s. (They don’t have a neutral, the VRM’s/VRE’s do.)
I forgot to add my commentary on the link between these too documents I posted…
Basically Homeseer is calling BS on the vender’s claims VPI06 being compatible. This is backed up by numerous other folks here regarding the need for a neutral on LED dimmers. Something with the internal dimming circuit design requires it so it can be a dead giveaway if your dimmer doesn’t have a neutral, that you may be in for some flickering or buzzing… (thanks for forging the path!). Seems like the ones with a neutral (eg, the VRE06) is about $100 to $150 more than conventional, say Jasco dimmer would cost. Sometimes ‘cutting edge’ means we bleed a little I suppose.
I should mention (after searching here) that there are other dimmer alternatives, such as using less expensive dimmers with either dummy loads or mixing in a single incandescent into your lighting batch. These alternatives may be cheaper but they come with tradeoffs. This board has some extremely clever people, don’t stop being awesome!
Thanks for all the replies guys, I know am sure I need some VPI06 dimmers. I think I was seeing some reports with the old series part numbers and got confused.
The other confusing thing is the fact that there is a Zwave VPI06 and and non Zwave version. The Leviton lists the non Zwave version for 25 bucks on their site, even though they it’s under the Zwave section of the E Store. Leviton FAIL.
I think im just going to buy a dimmer and see what happens. If there is flickering, or problems hooking it up to Vera I will try and return it! I shall report back.
BTW, the lights are incredible. They are a steal at 25 bucks a piece and look amazing!
The VP stuff are NOT Zwave. The VR stuff are ZWave.
The only time you’ll see a VP device is as a matching pair in a 3-way config with a VR as the primary.