Problem with dimmable LED lights

[LotusMartin]

I have this exact problem in my kitchen- sets of 6 and 9 led downlighters randomly turn on and off - drives me up the wall. problem is its a 3 gang, 3 way dimmer module so options were limited and electrician fitted V-pro of which 2 have failed now - not great, probably need a better electrician!

[mickmcpaddy]

V pro dimmers are all well and good and do solve a lot of problems, but they do need programming and usually with the LEDs in situ there is not enough load on the circuit to enable programming of the dimmer so you have to put one or two halogen GU10s in the circuit and then swap to LEDs once it programmed.

But if you turn the MCB for whatever reason off or have a power cut etc. they loose the program and you have to do it again.

[clockworks]

mickmcpaddy said:

V pro dimmers are all well and good and do solve a lot of problems, but they do need programming and usually with the LEDs in situ there is not enough load on the circuit to enable programming of the dimmer so you have to put one or two halogen GU10s in the circuit and then swap to LEDs once it programmed.

But if you turn the MCB for whatever reason off or have a power cut etc. they loose the program and you have to do it again.

Interesting. Could explain why I had problems programming mine, especially getting it to learn an IR code. I have 4 GU10 LEDs and a single 20w filament wall lamp. I took the first dimmer back, as it wouldn't program at all. I managed to set the second one set up eventually (took a couple of hours!), but it sometimes responds to other random IR codes, and is far worse if I swap the filament lamp for an LED.

[anonymous-user]

Is it typical for an LED to cut out completely when an incandescent bulb is still dimming? I’ve got a Philips dimmable LED I’ve just been trying around the house alongside some app-controlled dimmer switches. The Philips dims perfectly well with no flickering down to 30% or so, then shuts down.

Is that just a “thing” that LEDs do?

[Murph7355]

Greg66 said:

Is it typical for an LED to cut out completely when an incandescent bulb is still dimming? I’ve got a Philips dimmable LED I’ve just been trying around the house alongside some app-controlled dimmer switches. The Philips dims perfectly well with no flickering down to 30% or so, then shuts down.

Is that just a “thing” that LEDs do?

I've had that happen.

The biggest ball ache with LEDs is that the standards are anything but. Colour temps are all over the place, what they will and won't work with is all over the place. Etc.

It does seem to be getting better (I have a drawer full of test G9s I bought a couple of years ago and all were st to one extent or other). But there's still a way to go. Which is why the drawer is also full of old fashioned bulbs being stockpiled

[Black_S3]

LotusMartin said:

I have this exact problem in my kitchen- sets of 6 and 9 led downlighters randomly turn on and off - drives me up the wall. problem is its a 3 gang, 3 way dimmer module so options were limited and electrician fitted

Oftopic but, first guess for me would be they're in fire rated down lights (or are just pushed up into insulation) and the bulbs are over heating.

Back on topic IMO the only way to 'reliably' dim LEDs is smart lighting, which doesn't actually cost much more than dimmable led bulbs.... If that's above budget get the correct lumen bulb on a normal switch.

[Alucidnation]

I rip out the old lights and install decent quality sealed led units and quality dimmers rather than codge it together with old fittings.

However, i find Varilight programmable dimmers are shyte, and i've had most of them fail over a short period of time.

YMMV.

[mickmcpaddy]

The JCC7s were meant to be the dogs bks of sealed units the other year but loads of them failed, the driver electronics sat right over the heatsink, takes a special kind of genius to design that.