ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Forum and Topics about Z-Wave devices.
Post Reply
talisman
Starting Member
Starting Member
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:04 pm
Location: Netherlands

ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by talisman »

Hi,

I currently have my z-wave dimmers controlling groups of GU10 halogen spots (easily obtaining the minimum required wattage of 20 watts for each dimmer switch), with the plan of ultimately changing them for LED spots. Has anyone done this succesfully?
I was looking at LED spots like these ledgloeilamp.nl/GU10-LED-lampen/Dimbare ... ls.tpl.htm - wondering if I could replace a 4 X 35 watt Halogen spot load with 4 of these (with a load of 6 watts each).

Any ideas or suggestions?

Cheers,
Elco
User avatar
TANE
Forum Moderator
Forum Moderator
Posts: 4806
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:46 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by TANE »

It maybe work when you have a special Led driver that can be controlled on the input (220V)
The second challenge is the startup .
You need set the load to > 50% before it will burn
Enver Tanriverdi | http://blog.tane.nl
talisman
Starting Member
Starting Member
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:04 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by talisman »

Well the specs say "Dimbaar met gangbare dimmers." - they are 220v spots, so I assume it will work with any dimmer. They do mention you have to take care with the dimmers minimum load though (which is what I am worried about)

Though I do have a semi busted act dimmer - so I might just try it I suppose.

Has anyone pulled this off already?

Cheers,
Elco
William.abbo
Member
Member
Posts: 105
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:05 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by William.abbo »

Keep us informed, I also have Act-dimmers and wondering if those LED spots will work.
spierie
Member
Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:48 am
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by spierie »

Hi Elco,

I'm interested in this too. I had 5 spots with 50 watt halogen GU10 lamps behind a normal Busch and Jaeger dimmer in the kitchen.
Replaced one of these GU10 lamps with a 3W LED spot with Cree chip in it. The dimmer of course still works because of the other 4x50W in the string, but the 3W LED spot also works but the dimming range is much smaller.
The LED spot has a much higher base light output. If the dimmer is at its lowest position, the 4 Halogen spots give about 10% of their light output, but the LED spot is already outputting around 40% of it's light output. If the position of the dimmer is at 100% their is almost no difference between the Halogen and the LED spot.
So the LED spot behaves very different from the other 4 spots, but I'm pretty satisfied with the overall performance. If their is a zwave dimmer which can dim 5 LED spots of 3W each I want it.......;-)

Attached 2 pictures with the dimmer at its lowest position and at its highest position. The middle spot is the LED.

Rgds,
Michel.
Attachments
low output
low output
foto 2.JPG (28.11 KiB) Viewed 13525 times
high output
high output
foto 1.JPG (20.61 KiB) Viewed 13525 times
abl
Member
Member
Posts: 244
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:58 pm
Location: Belgium

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by abl »

In my living room I have 1 Merten super dimmer switch (z-wave) that now controls 16 MR16 halogen spots (each 25 or 30w). I'd like to replace these with dimmable led spots. So I bought 16 MR16 3w dimmable led spots (which is 48w > minimal 25w required by Merten switch). When I try to replace them, the first 3 led spots work perfectly, but after changing the fourth, only two of the four led spots (and the other 12 halogen spots still in place) light up.

Should I also replace the power adapters of the spots or is there something else I oversee?
hkmod25
Starting Member
Starting Member
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:12 pm

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by hkmod25 »

I hope this can help:
"Transformer/Power Supply Compatibility
MR16 Low Voltage LED Bulbs are compatible with virtually all Magnetic Transformers/Power Supplies. Conversely: Many Electronic Transformers/Power Supplies (especially older installed versions) may not be compatible. The reason being: Electronic Transformers require a minimum load, which is in most instances is greater than that of the energy efficient LED bulbs. Because of this: LED 12V MR16 bulbs will not work well. The most common results are Flickering, Strobe Effect and in many cases No Light at all. "
abl
Member
Member
Posts: 244
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:58 pm
Location: Belgium

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by abl »

Oke, thanks a lot for your help. I will order some of these electromagnetic transfo's...
abl
Member
Member
Posts: 244
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:58 pm
Location: Belgium

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by abl »

Still haven't bought the LED lights but want to give it a try again. Just reading through the posts again and I'm running into more questions now:
1. I was wondering whether it would be better to go for 240V Dimmable LED spots instead of the 12V with trafo. What are your views there?
2. If I would go for the 240V ones, can I connect these directly to my Merten Z-wave dimmer? This dimmer requires a minimum load of 25w; how many LED's do I have to hook up to it?
3. I've noticed that LED spots that I bought are a tiny bit larger than the Halogen Spots, and the Halogen fitting doens't hold the LED perfectly (it does hold but it needs some tweaking). Are there other fittings for the LED versions?
talisman
Starting Member
Starting Member
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:04 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by talisman »

The fittings should be the same, but I have seen some Gu10 LEDs that are a bit longer than the standard halogen ones.

Also, it would seem the new fibaro dimmers withthe bypass element should work with any type of dimmable LEDs - anyone had a go with these yet?

Cheers,
Elco
Quinten
Starting Member
Starting Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2012 6:49 pm

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by Quinten »

I've just replaced 4x 35W GU10 with 4x 4W Philips Masterled GU10's and am using these on the Fibaro FGD211 and dimmer bypass. With the dimmer set to 60% to 100% they are working fine, but set the dimmer to 50% or lower and the lights will start to flash briefly brightly, increasing in frequency the lower the dimmer. I've asked Fibaro if they offer any advice to reduce the dimming level without the side effects of the minimal load.
mhn
Member
Member
Posts: 399
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:27 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by mhn »

I have a Fibaro dimmer with bypass to play with.

It dims my Phillips 7 Watt LED bulb fine.
vanisher

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by vanisher »

I tried a DUWI.me dimmer with 3 GU10 spots from leditlight.net (3w each). Result. 2 spots dead.. Luckily replaced by leditlight.
I'm thinking to try the fibaro dimmer as soon as i have a clue how to implement these.

The 3w spots are enough for 'sfeerverlichting'. The 6w spots are comparable with 50w halogeen spots.
hkmod25
Starting Member
Starting Member
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:12 pm

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by hkmod25 »

vanisher wrote:The 3w spots are enough for 'sfeerverlichting'. The 6w spots are comparable with 50w halogeen spots.
Actually this is not correct (for today marked).
6W LED = ca. 35W halogen
9W LED = ca. 50W halogen
And of course here we talk about the best LED (chip) manufacturers as Cree, Nichia...
Quinten
Starting Member
Starting Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2012 6:49 pm

Re: ACT Homepro dimmers and LED lights

Post by Quinten »

Quinten wrote:I've just replaced 4x 35W GU10 with 4x 4W Philips Masterled GU10's and am using these on the Fibaro FGD211 and dimmer bypass. With the dimmer set to 60% to 100% they are working fine, but set the dimmer to 50% or lower and the lights will start to flash briefly brightly, increasing in frequency the lower the dimmer. I've asked Fibaro if they offer any advice to reduce the dimming level without the side effects of the minimal load.
Just to follow up, but I have just had an email conversation with Michal Rodziewicz (Fibaro's sales director) and after he asked me a bit more about my set up, advised me to change parameter 20 (the one that carries a big warning in the manual ;)) from 110 (default) to 135. Updated the dimmer and I am pleased to report that it is now dimming to a lower level than before and the flashing has disappeared completely.
Post Reply

Return to “Z-Wave Forum”