Caseta PD-CWCL Issue with Multiple Under-Cabinet LED Fixtures

[SWWeatherGuy]

I have a Lutron BDG-1 smart bridge installed and running with 8 various Lutron Caseta switches configured and working fine. I just installed 4 Parmida under-cabinet dimmable LED light fixtures, each with their own physical on/off switch. They are not daisy chained with included connecting cables, they each have romex run from each fixture to the switch box.


I ordered a Caseta PD-6WCL dimmer for these lights but installed an off brand (TopGreener) Smart dimmer to test with and while waiting for the PD-6WCL to arrive. The TopGreener switch takes a neutral wire and it worked fine as far as on/off goes. If I tried to dim with it, I would get a flicker/strobe effect. After receiving and installing the PD-6WCL, I struggled to get the LED light fixtures to power on. The switch LEDs would turn on/off/dim with both the physical buttons or with the app, but the LED fixture lights would not power on. I finally tried switching the LED fixtures off with the built in physical switches on each. After switching off the 3rd of 4, the 4th light came on. After trying various things I've found that the switch seems to work pretty well with only 3 of the 4 fixtures switched on as long as they are turned on 100% initially. They will turn off, back on (100%) and dim without flicker/strobe fine as long as only 3 of the 4 LED fixtures' switches are on.


The Parmida LED lights include a verified compatibility list for 11 different Lutron models, as well as several for Leviton and GE. It's also mentioned that various other models are likely to work as well. I'm far from knowledgeable about this stuff but I thought since the (neutral wire) TopGreener dimmer seemed to be able power on with all 4 LED fixtures switched on that might be the key to the Caseta issue (no neutral wire) and wondered if anyone could make me feel confident that a Caseta PD-5ne dimmer would work before forking out that much $$ on one-- I thought the PD-6WCL's were pricey!

[SWWeatherGuy]

I tried a Leviton smart dimmer I borrowed from a neighbor. The Leviton takes a neutral wire like the TopGreener dimmer does and it acted the same way-- it powers on/off all 4 LED fixtures fine but any dimming results in flickering or strobing. I'm still hoping someone can let me know if a Caseta PD-5ne should work or if there is another configuration or "helper" device that might solve this issue.

[Freddy G.]

Hello, Lutron does not test integrated LED fixtures or drivers due to the sheer amount of products on the market. Instead, we rely on the compatibility testing of the lighting manufacturer with our dimming controls. The PD-5NE is an ELV Neutral-Based Dimmer. Generally, they are compatible with more LEDs out in the market. It is not a jack-of-all-trades dimmer though and you could still have the same issues or have other issues introduced.

We have not tested this light, so we are not sure how it would react. We would encourage you to contact the manufacturer of your LED or Driver to determine if they have done testing with the PD-5NE.

[SWWeatherGuy]

Thank you for the response. I'm already waiting for a response from the LED manufacturer, my post here was to see if anyone else with PD-5NE knowledge may have encountered similar symptoms with various similar switches and found a solution with the PD-5NE. Thanks again.