UPB and LED bulbs

[kurtmccaslin]

I am building a new home, and have gone 100% LED.   I have a variety of different fixtures and bulbs from different vendors.   The Simply Automated 11-40 has worked well on all of them except for one type of fixture.   It is the Phillips CorePro LED mini cylinder.   This fixture will not start up with anything less than 80% brightness.   After it is started, it will dim down to a pretty low level.   However, I would like to tap a wall switch and directly deliver 40% brightness.  
 
The specs on this fixture say it will dim with "trailing edge (ELV) dimming"     If I change out the wall switch to a PCS WS1E, do you think it will work?   This switch is rated for ELV transformers, but it is fairly expensive, and I was hoping to hear from someone with experience before I buy one.
 
Second question:  Is there a way to trick the SA 11-40 to brighten to 100% and then dim down, as opposed to dimming up from zero?
 
 

 

[ano]

You may have to do some trial and error.
 
LED bulbs don't naturally the way an incandescent bulb dims. They actually contain circuitry to "read" what the dimmer is trying say and dim accordingly. There are a few types of chips that most of the bulbs use, and each tends to work a bit differently according to the dimmer.
 
If you can test a few types with your bulbs, that is best, then stick to the same dimmer type and bulb type. The PCS dimmer is for low-voltage (transformer) dimming. It may work for LED bulbs also, but may be overkill.  Most Simply Automated dimmers seem to work well on LED lights for me. The negative of these dimmers for me is they don't work well with a UPB repeater, if you have one.
 
Leviton/HAI makes a dimmer just for LED bulbs, but interestingly enough, their regular dimmer seems to work better on LED bulbs. Go figure, and the timer function has never worked with the LED dimmer.
 
No dimmer and LED bulb is going to dim perfectly. If dimming is real important to you, maybe you want to consider adding a second set of lower wattage incandescent fixtures for those times when you just want dim lights.  

 

[essmd]

I also am 100% LED in the house. I have had variable results with dimmable LEDs, so trial and error is the best course of action.
 
So far, most of the products sold at Costco work well with my Elk M1 and Simply Automated UPB switches.
 
Bulbs from Home Depot and Lowes are variable, usually flickering at 40% or less.