How to Resolve Flashing LED Chandelier Pendants with Caseta Dimmer

I am using a Caseta 6W-CL to control 2 chandeliers that have 9 and 14 pendants respectively. This is a new installation in a new house - all wiring, etc. is ~ 6 months old. The chandeliers came with 23 LEDs each at 5.5 Watts = 126.5 Watts total. The provided bulbs were Intertek 5009667 GU10 2700K bulbs. The Caseta is installed in a 3-Gangbox.

After installation there were several breaker trips over several days, and ultimately the Caseta switch was blown out. I was still able to operate the chandeliers using the Caseta tab. We removed the larger chandelier, had it checked out by the lighting company, and reinstalled it. This 2nd time, I replaced the original bulbs with lower wattage MIBOXER FUT103 GU10 bulbs; they are 4 Watts each = 92 Watts total.

All was good when replacing the bulbs until the final one. When replacing the final original bulb with the final new one, all the chandelier pendants began to flash - sometimes randomly and sometimes in a pattern. I can reproduce the problem with a different Intertek bulb, a different MIBOXER bulb, and at full light level or dimmed.

The new bulbs allow for variable color and color heat; and I'd prefer to keep them. The old bulbs seemed to somehow overload the Caseta. I'd rather not switch all the bulbs back to the original configuration that blew out the switch.

So far, I've been told the following:

- a single incandescent or higher wattage LED could add stability and remove the flashing. However, this would then result in having 1 of 23 bulbs being a different color or color heat than the other 22.
- switching the Caseta 6W CL to a Caseta 10 NXD would add stability and also have a higher wattage capacity, which would help given the switch is in a 3-gang switch box.
- that Casetas will likely have issues with the overall number of bulbs once you exceed 20 on a single circuit. Recommendation was not to use a Caseta Dimmer at all.

Note that the chandeliers have high canopies and high pendants. Changing a bulb on a single pendant takes about 20 minutes.

I'd prefer to have a solution that can use a dimmer that can also be connected to the Lutron App as is the case with the current Caseta 6W CL.

Anyone's thoughts on how to resolve this?

mclcooper

Are there 23 bulbs total or 23 per fixture? 23 per fixture (46 total) is way too much load for 1 dimmer (150w) and would result in the strobing you were seeing.

The breaker tripping is a result of an over-current. Too much load on a dimmer could cause that. I would bypass the caseta dimmer and measure the current. You can get an inexpensive, clamp-on amp meter from the box stores for $60.

What is the device controlling the color? If that device is between the dimmer and the bulbs, it may not like being dimmed. If it is before the dimmer it may be sending signals the dimmer doesn't like.

The neutral connection on the 10NXD makes it a much better choice. The magic of the neutral makes everything work better.

Randy, Please see responses:

1. Are there 23 bulbs total or 23 per fixture- 23 bulbs total across the two chandeliers 0 14 on one chandelier and 9 on the other chandelier.

2. I would bypass the caseta dimmer and measure the current. You can get an inexpensive, clamp-on amp meter from the box stores for $60 - OK, as a side note, since using the lower wattage bulbs, there have been no breaker trips.

3. What is the device controlling the color - The MIBOXER bulbs require a controller that is on my WIFI network. In turn, there is an App that allows me to control the color. To originally pair the bulbs, I would turn off the lights via the Lutron switch, wait 10 seconds +, turn them back on, and tap a "link" button in the app. Any color changing can only be done when the lights are on. The flashing occurs when the Caseta is fully lit (not dimmed) and the MIBOXER App is fully lit (it also has a dim slider).

I plan to test the lights with a straight non-dimmer switch, and then with the Lutron Pro switch as my next steps.