# Re-lamping and dimmers



## vgarabet (Mar 4, 2011)

I am working on a re-lamping project replacing halogen PAR lamps with LED lamps. In performing tests, I loaded up the circuit with the new LED lamps and they will not dim. If I replace 1 LED lamp with 1 halogen lamp on the circuit the dimmer works just fine. 

I have been told my 2 solutions are either to keep one halogen lamp on per circuit or replace the dimmer with a new Lutron CFL/LED dimmer. I am concerned that on some circuits, the lamps will overload the new CFL/LED dimmer. I have two basic questions:

1) Is there anything I can safely do with the existing Lutron magnetic dimmers to simulate the load of the halogen lamp to get the dimmer to work with a full circuit of LED lamps? 
2) What are my options if I use the CFL/LED dimmer and the circuit overloads the dimmer? Other than re-wiring that is. That would be very costly.

Thanks in advance.

Van


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

Not all leds are dimmable. I believe Sylvania makes them but you need to check with manufacturers before doing this as a certain dimmer may be required. 

Unfortunately there are no standards out there for the design of LED just as there were no standards for CFL's. I feel the consumer has gotten shafted on both products with a lot of inferior crap out there.


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## Edrick (Jun 6, 2010)

Why would you over load the CFL / LED dimmer when they use such low wattage. What are your current dimmers? 1000watt? If you're not over loading those circuits now with halogen then you're probably not going to over load a new LED/CFL dimmer.

What are your calculations how did you come to the conclusion you'll probably over load them?


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## vgarabet (Mar 4, 2011)

*LED and Dimmers*

The LED lamps I am using are dimmable. I have tested them and they dim very nicely. They dimm with the current dimmer (with one halogen lamp in the circuit) and have been tested by the manufacturer to work with the Lutron CFL/LED dimmer. 

Given the dimmer type, you calculate load differently. 

When using the CFL/LED dimmer I can use the watts x lamps = circuit load. The issue is that the dimmer only takes 150 watts which is only 8 17 watt LED lamps. If there were originally 9 halogen lamps, I am overloading the dimmer. What are my options?

When using the existing magnetic dimmer, you have to count each LED lamp well above the stated wattage. I've been told that you calculate the load from an LED lamp as its halogen equivalent. So the same 17 watt LED would account for 75 or 90 watts to the load of the circuit. That would be fine as it is a 1 for 1 swap but I still cannot dim without 1 halogen in the circuit. I am trying to find a way to create the necessary resistance in the circuit without having to use the halogen lamp. Any options?

Thanks,

Van


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

I just got off the phone with Lutron. They said not all dimmable LEDs are dimmable with just any dimmer- You need to match it. They have a 150 watt LED dimmer and it is good for the wattage of the LED bulb. 17 watts * 9 = 153watts. I suspect that 3 watts will not be an issue.


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## vgarabet (Mar 4, 2011)

I am going through hoops trying to match up the lamps and dimmers and not go over the load capacity. That is my issue. 

Lutron LED tech support told me about a product called LUT-LBX. The link is http://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocumentLibrary/030852a.pdf. 

I am told that this product will put a minimum load on the circuit instead of the single halogen lamp. The dimmer compatibility is based on the fact that it was dimming correctly when there was 1 halogen lamp in the circuit.

Has anyone used the LUT-LBX? What have you used it for? Has anyone used it to compensate for a minimum load for dimming LED lamps?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Van


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## Lighting Retro (Aug 1, 2009)

We've had this issue on new Juno LED remodeler cans. Not just any dimmer will do. You have to match up with what the manufacturer specs as compatible. No way around it that I'm aware of. 

Also, some don't react well on 277 if they are designed for 120V or vice versa. We've put in some that work with one voltage only for dimming.


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