LED Wattage in Programming
I am programming a job right now where most of the loads are LED (as I'm sure is the case for most new construction projects). Other than auto-selecting a dimmer or generating an error message in the RadioRa 2 software, I don't think programming the Wattage of the LED load actually impacts the dimmer performance. There are two theories I have on what I should use for the LED load:
1. The actual load. So for 2 15W led loads, I would just enter in the face value. The problem with this is that I won't be allowed to select the RRD-6CL, and for smaller circuits would have to enter a dummy value over 50W. (I believe that the 6CL can support loads as low as 10W for LED circuits, but must have 50W minimum load for INC Loads). Unfortunately, Lutron doesn't have an option to specify load type like when programming a WPM, its just "LED/CFL/INC." It would be nice to just put the actual wattage to have correct documentation of the system, and perhaps a field to specify the maximum fixture count as on the Dimmer Compatibility Report Card.
2. My second theory of what I can do is to calculate the theoretical wattage of the LED Load. To do this I would just look at the maximum number of fixtures supported on a dimmer compatibility report card, so say 10 fixtures on a 600W dimmer. I would the divide the wattage of the dimmer by the number of fixtures supported to arrive at the theoretical wattage. (In this case, 600W dimmer/10 fixtures=60W per fixture). The fixtures would not actually be 60 Watts (in this case they are only 15W), but this is the input I would use in the software, and the advantage I see is that the software would warn you when overloading a dimmer.
I don't totally understand the electrical engineering but from what I understand is that the reason that wattage of the total number of LED fixtures supported is primarily because of the high current inrush of the LED drivers when the circuit is first turned on.
In any case, I'm just wanting to make sure that the way I'm programming systems is consistent, and conforms to "best practices" Thanks!