Entering the world of dimmable LEDs with Insteon/z-wave

Posted on
Fri Nov 24, 2017 6:42 am
bnance offline
Posts: 11
Joined: Mar 03, 2009

Entering the world of dimmable LEDs with Insteon/z-wave

I've begun the process of phasing out my incandescent bulbs with LEDs and I'm already having issues. I have a mature insteon installation that has been working great for years. All my UPSs have filters on them and my system is very reliable.

I started to first replace incandescent bulbs with LEDs in fixtures where I only turned them on/off, no dimming. That's worked well with just about any manufacturer's LED bulb.

However, I want to start replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs in fixtures where I want to dim them often. This is where my issues begin: At times, I'm getting a slight strobe effect when the LEDs are dimmed down to just about any level. Yes, I have older insteon lamp modules so I tried using a new z-wave lamp module and the same problem occurs. Do I need to be buying a particular brand of LED bulbs? Are there lamp modules that I need to be using in particular? We're getting ready to move into a new house and the kitchen has recessed LEDs in the ceiling. Do I need a LED compatible dimmer switches of a particular insteon or z-wave make/model? I like the thought of more efficient LEDs, but it looks like this is another world of trying to get the right products to work to combat the flicker and/or strobing of LEDs.

Any advice or charts would be helpful!
Last edited by bnance on Thu Nov 30, 2017 8:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

Posted on
Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:31 am
jalves offline
Posts: 744
Joined: Jun 16, 2013

Re: Entering the world of dimmable LEDs with Insteon/z-wave

A couple of thoughts:
Not all LED lights are dimmable. Check the packaging when looking for lights that you will want to dim.
Not all dimmable LED lights are created equal. Some tend to generate audible noise when dimmed. Check out the Cree brand.

Running Indigo 2023.2 on a 24" iMac M1), OS X 14.4
Jeff

Posted on
Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:44 am
autolog offline
Posts: 3988
Joined: Sep 10, 2013
Location: West Sussex, UK [GMT aka UTC]

Re: Entering the world of dimmable LEDs with Insteon/z-wave

This note from Vesternet may be useful: Using Fibaro Dimmer 2 with LED Lights

This page explains Leading/Trailing dimmers: Dimmers - trailing edge v leading edge

Hope this helps. :)

Posted on
Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:55 am
mundmc offline
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Posts: 1060
Joined: Sep 14, 2012

Re: Entering the world of dimmable LEDs with Insteon/z-wave

These were helpful articles. I cant believe i’m just now learning about this.


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