LED dimming compatibility

A thread to discuss LED brands and their compatibility if any with C-Bus dimmers.

Please note that this is only a community discussion and not official endorsement of any brand. Manufacturers can change processes and components with little or no outward sign, so a model that worked one year may not the next year and vice versa.

With that said, feel free to report your experiences. Useful data includes the LED model, when it was bought, the city or state installed in, the unit type of the C-Bus dimmer, the number of loads on the channel, and your observations (minimum stable level, amount of dimming whine, etc).

 

Placeholder post to link to discussions in other threads:

Pierlite Astara

Brilliant Lighting Disque

Haneco Viva

Pierlite, Moodled, Clipsal TPDL1C1

Pierlite, Haneco, Osram

 

Has anyone tried the Philips DN029-2B LED8 with the 5508D1A?

I have asked Lamp replacements Australia who’ve gone back to Philips and said that these lights will work with both leading edge and trailing edge dimmers.

https://www.lampreplacements.com.au...dard)/PHILIPS-LED-Downlight-10W-Colour-Switch

 

Dave_F - did you give these a try?

 

Hi abg,

Not yet. I plan to start fitting off later next month.

 

Hi

I have success with the following brands using a universal dimmer:

1. Ikea dimmable lamps - all work but need to limit output to 10%.otherwise flickering is seen.
2. Philips shellbark range https://www.lighting.philips.co.uk/consumer/p/myliving-recessed-spot-light/5020131P0
3. Philips bulbs 60W and 100W https://www.download.p4c.philips.com/files/8/8718696577370/8718696577370_pss_.pdf
4. Govena LED strip driver te-dimm-led-60w-12v - These worked brilliantly really dimming achieved with no flicker.
http://govena.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Zasilator-t60-TE-DIMM-LED-60W-12V-PL_ANG.pdf

Hope this helps.

 

Hi gte242,

I have ended up buying the Phillips down lights after looking through different models.

I am using the 8 channel LE dimmers and the Phillips rep has promised me that as long as I set a minimum 10% level, they will work fine.

 

Hi Dave, how are your Philip’s down lights performing?

 

Hi N.W.B,

I have just powered up the system and trying to program it. I haven't done enough programming to use the dimming feature yet so can't really comment on that. However I do have a number of them that are glowing. I am going to get some 31LCD's to see if it fixes that.

 

Back in May 2020, I replaced all our 12v halogen down lights with
Philips Master LED MR16 (GU5.3) 7W Dimmable
Have not had an issues with then at all.
Last week, the T8 fluros were replaced with
Verbatim T8 LED Tube 14W - 4 Foot (1200mm)
So much extra brightness.

 

Hello gang, I am an old, old CBus-er from the good old days. I have had C-Bus in my own home for almost 20 years. I am just about to knock down and rebuild. The builder has specified Clipsal CLITPDL1C2 downlights. I am wondering if anyone has used CLITPDL1C2 in conjunction with Leading Edge DIN rail dimmers. In a fantastic testament to the reliability of C-Bus I am intending to re-use much of my existing C-Bus gear. I have new dimmers and relay units but dimmers are not universal.
I am also wary of input capacitance in the primary of the LED driver, so far Hanneco Viva 110 multi is the only reported DIM compatible (C-Bus) light that I can get details of input capacitance.
I am resigned to having to use 31LCDA's so if the Clipsal CLITPDL1C2 works in conjunction with a 31LCDA then I will leave it at this.
I get the feeling that everyone still tippy toes around this subject

 

To make my questions a little more direct >
Is the CLITPDL1C2 suitable for leading edge dimming ?
Does anyone know the imput capacitance ( 240v / Primary side) of the CLITPDL1C2 ?

From here I can make my own mind up with respect to C-Bus dimmer compatibility.
Thanks in advance.

 

Yes still a tippy toe subject Lucky.
If you have deep enough pockets, check out ELR Group (dim to 0%) or Brightgreen (D700+ model or above for very low dimming).
I am exploring others as well but nothing compares to the above.

 

Hi Memphix, thanks for your reply. ELR Group and Brightgreen certainly look like premium quality. I have some time available now as the knock down rebuild has been shelved. I will test some LED downlights on my existing install and drop a message back here when I am done. I have old 50W halogen dichroic downlights with iron core transformers. Its time to update. Having said that with about 30 downlights I have only had to replace 2 lamps in the last 15 years. Every circuit is dimmed on din rail dimmers and they are very rarely on @ 100% which I think must have contributed to the phenomenal lifespan.

 

Hi Lucky556
Ironically (or not for the SE beast) the Clipsal downlights were not recommended to work with C-Bus. And i've seen many of the Clipsal early downlights (regular install / no dimming) failing / failed!!... so much for 50,000hrs life. But all this changes with product ranges and suppliers I'm not sure about thew current models, but I stick with brands that are lighting companies, and avoid brands who simply badge product (clipsal lighting).

No phase control can give good dimming control on low levels (say less than 10-20%) if you want ultimate control you need discrete (digital) dimming such as DALi, DMX or even 0-10V.
If you are happy with general dimming then there are several downlights that work well on the C-Bus leading edge dimmers. For the comodity lines Osram / Ledvance is the best i have found, both their actual downlights and their glare bombs.

I still have halogens in my lounge room where I need very low dimming, various LED downlights in the rest of the house all happy on C-Bus Leading edge dimmers.

Surprised some mentiion the Haneco as I've spoken to their tech support and they said it was not suitable for Leading edge (I won't supply Haneco on Ethical grounds anyway). But then if you ask does it work on C-Bus that is not a specific enough question, it may work on the universal dimmer (using training edge) but not the standard leading edge dimmers.

 

Hi Matthew, thanks for your insight, interesting comments. It appears that a common thread from your reply and the reply from Memphix is to stick with the high quality products. The C-Bus dimmers are not cheap to replace so we shouldn't be connecting cheap LEDs that possibly can't be trusted.
As I mentioned I cant get over the lifespan of the halogens in my home.
I just checked the dim levels on my late night PIR triggered scenes and 15% is the lowest dim level that I use. I appreciate that percentage of dim and actual light level is relative to the fitting specs colour temp etc, but as long as I can identify fittings that will behave down to 15% shou ld be fine.
Do you use the Clipsal load correction devices on your dim channels ?
Thanks again.

 

Hello,

C-Bus2 , 4-channel dimmers , running 6x 50w (MR16) halogen down-lights w transformers off each channel. Ie, each C-Bus dimmer unit is running 24 50W halogen downlights.

Got some "Osram Superstar Advanced" dimmable LED MR16s (stock from around 2020) as replacements. They work in only some of the fittings, but in most fittings they don't even start up.

Are C-Bus2 dimmers not compatible? Is it the transformers?
Anybody have a similar experiences?

 

Are you using the halogen transformers? If so, what type and make are they.

 

Yes halogen transformers, 50W, one per light fitting. I think they are "Lanson" from a local supplier in Canberra. I believe they are Chinese rebranded generic and similar to Possum, electronic not iron core (not magnetic).
Thanks

Ps, maybe wiring 3x 7W LED down-lights in parallel per transformer will fix the problem? (perhaps the starting load is too low with just one light per transformer) ??