Switch no longer working with LEDs

[JMonkeYJ]

I have a switch, I believe the PD-5WS-DV. I got this switch because our house does not have a neutral wire and we needed to control the lights with a remote as well as the switch. So we have a remote paired to the switch, as well.

The problem is that the last incandescent light in the circuit finally burned out. I live in California, so incandescent lights are illegal and all the lights in the circuit have been gradually replaced with LEDs. Now that they are all LEDs, the switch doesn't work anymore! The lights will turn on if I use the manual reset pull tab at the bottom of the switch, but once I turn them off with the switch, they won't turn back on.

Is there a solution that will allow me to have a remote controlled switch that works with all LEDs in the circuit? I saw some Lutron offerings saying they work with 150W LEDs, but the ones in this circuit are nowhere close to that.

[Brandon W.]

Hello JMonkeYJ and welcome to the forums!

The PD-5WS-DV can still be used with LED loads! Please note that the included LUT-MLC shunt capacitor must be installed up at the fixture. This will allow the switch to reach that required minimum load so it can power up. Since the previously used incandescent pulled enough wattage, the LUT-MLC was not needed at the time. If you do not have the capacitor, you are welcome to email us at support@lutron.com or call any time at 1(888)588-7661.

[JMonkeYJ]

Hello JMonkeYJ and welcome to the forums!

The PD-5WS-DV can still be used with LED loads! Please note that the included LUT-MLC shunt capacitor must be installed up at the fixture. This will allow the switch to reach that required minimum load so it can power up. Since the previously used incandescent pulled enough wattage, the LUT-MLC was not needed at the time. If you do not have the capacitor, you are welcome to email us at support@lutron.com or call any time at 1(888)588-7661.

Just wanted to follow up and say that this worked! I had an LUT-MLC available from an earlier attempt to fix this issue. The key was to install it across the fixture, as you describe. I believe in the past I had tried to install it across the switch, which does not work (I tried again to check). The light does take a few seconds to get to full brightness after turning it on now, but at least it is fully working with the remote and wall switch, so it is good enough for me.

Thank you!

[Brandon W.]

Thanks for the feedback!

We are happy to hear it is behaving as it should. You are welcome to try another capacitor to see if that addresses the full brightness delay (up to three LUT-MLCs can be used). Please reach out to our support and we would be happy to help further if necessary! You can reach us via email at support@lutron.com or by calling us, any time, at 1(888)588-7661.

[JMonkeYJ]

Thanks for the feedback!

We are happy to hear it is behaving as it should. You are welcome to try another capacitor to see if that addresses the full brightness delay (up to three LUT-MLCs can be used). Please reach out to our support and we would be happy to help further if necessary! You can reach us via email at support@lutron.com or by calling us, any time, at 1(888)588-7661.

It looks like I may have spoken a bit too soon. It worked fine for the first day, but now it is only working sporadically. When it doesn't work now, the symptom is: I press the on button, then the light fixture lights up very briefly (and not nearly full brightness) and then turns itself off. But it still sometimes works properly, too.

Do you think this means I need more capacitors? Or does this sound like a wiring problem? If I do need more caps then I will need to order more. Thanks so much for the help.

[Joy L.]

We are sorry to hear the issue resurfaced. We have two recommendations:

1) Swap the line and load wires on the PD-5WS-DV (should be black and red on your device); polarity can affect the device's ability to control the load if the device detects that power is flowing through it incorrectly.
2) Add an additional LUT-MLC; up to three per switch can be effective at eliminating these types of issues when 1 MLC alone is not sufficient.

We hope this helps!

[JMonkeYJ]

We are sorry to hear the issue resurfaced. We have two recommendations:

1) Swap the line and load wires on the PD-5WS-DV (should be black and red on your device); polarity can affect the device's ability to control the load if the device detects that power is flowing through it incorrectly.
2) Add an additional LUT-MLC; up to three per switch can be effective at eliminating these types of issues when 1 MLC alone is not sufficient.

We hope this helps!

I finally got back this and tried switching the polarity first as you suggested. It did the same thing as before, which is very odd to me. It worked great for about 2-3 full days. Total control of the light and great brightness. But when I went to turn it on one time suddenly it was back to being dim, and I wasn't able to shut it off (it turns off momentarily then turns back on, the opposite from before!). Does that sound like something that will be helped with more caps? It is pretty difficult to install the caps in this fixture, so I want to make sure the solution fits the symptoms. Thanks for all the help.

[Brandon W.]

Hey JMonkeYJ,

We apologize for this troublesome switch. Yes, we would recommend using one or two more LUT-MLC capacitors on the fixture. You are welcome to reach out to our support and we would be happy to help take care of this for you!