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Thread: MACL-153M won't work unless at least one incandescent in chandelier

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
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    1

    MACL-153M won't work unless at least one incandescent in chandelier

    I have a chandelier in my dining room that I have been using with a traditional dimmer. For the old dimmer to work, one of the candelabra bulbs needed to be incandescent (the rest are filament LEDs). There are 8 bulbs in total. I upgraded the switches today to the MACL-153 and companion (MA-R). The fixture still will not work with all LED bulbs. This is frustrating as these dimmers are not cheap. With all LED bulbs, the bulbs are always on (dim) and when the fixture is all the way off, they are still on, but slightly more dim. There is no dimming function at all and the fixture is UN-usable. Only when I install one incandescent bulb will the dimmer work as it is intended. I replaced my kitchen chandelier dimmers with the same switches and it works (6 filament LED candelabra bulbs). Both fixtures are using filament LEDs.

    I don't understand why one fixture works with 6 bulbs and the other does not work with 8. None of the bulbs are greater than 4 Watts.

    If I can't get the dining room fixture working with all LED bulbs, I am going to return one set of switches and get my $50+ bucks back since the LED dimmer will not work with LED bulbs.

    Most frustrating.

    Rich

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Posts
    108
    Hello rwiroc,

    Thank you for your post!

    Unfortunately, there is currently no industry standard for the manufacturing of LEDs and the performance will vary with different dimming controls. We have seen instances where different total number of the LEDs will perform differently. Meaning 4 may work on your dimmer but 5 and 7 LEDs do not. Additionally, if the dining room and kitchen are on separate neutrals you could be getting neutral interaction. Neutral interaction occurs when other devices on the same circuit create feedback. This feedback can directly affect how a dimmer performs.

    What happens if you use 6 LEDs in the dining room location, does it start to work then? If it does then it truly sounds like an LED compatibility issue. If you are able to change the design style of the LEDs you can use our LED Compatibility Tool to find new LEDs that will be guaranteed to function, www.lutron.com/compatibility.

    Additionally the type of LEDs you have are extremely challenging to dim without any misbehavior due to the fact that they do not have the traditional LED driver circuitry installed in the base of the bulb. The driver circuitry helps to filter the line and stabilize the dimming performance, without this the bulbs can be influenced/interfered with by any additional line fluctuations.


    Hope this helps!

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