You’re definitely not the first nor the last with dim LEDs combined with a neutral.
Can confirm this. Had this issue at my last house quite a few years back and a bypass fixed it up.
With “glow” in 'off" state? My understanding is that it is very unusual with a Neutral
I have another brand of dimmer switches installed with some being replaced by Inovelli switches. Can confirm the two still installed have glowing LED bulbs when the dimmer is “off”. I just added a new VZW31 and the bulbs wired to those have the glow as well. All neurtal wired.
Ive just shrugged it off for now as it doesnt bother anyone at least in my case. I plan to replace a dimmer to the VZW31 and will probably continue to see the glow from the bulbs.
To be fair, the bulbs I have are cheap (and free) LED bulbs I got from my electric company. I have heard replacing them with something like the Phillips A19 dimmable bulbs could address it. However, seeing that there are reports of this phenomenon happening with recessed can LEDs might be different.
We have this question out to the manufacturer, but I think this part is correct:
Unfortunately, it is impossible to create a switch that can work with all LED’s in market. We try to test as many as we can prior to launching the product, but, in some cases, it’s also just not possible for the switch to work with certain bulbs given the internal logic.
I will try to get an actual engineering response.
But in 99.9% of the cases, either switching out the bulb(s) or putting a bypass in will solve the flickering issues.
I have this issue with a can light I just installed the switch on.
Can anyone provide a recommended dimmable bulb that will turn off? I’d just as well switch the bulb out with one that is known to work rather than install a bypass
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I’m partial to Philips bulbs (dumb or Hue) for being reliable. I used to avoid Feit, but I’ve been impressed with some of their stuff lately - they seem to have gotten their act together better.
Both brands should be as available in decent selection at Home Depot.
If it’s just a 1-bulb fixture, you want to put in a bulb with decent wattage - I’d say around at least 8 watts. Most 60-watt-equivalent LED bulbs will be in that neighborhood.
But in a 1-bulb scenario, the best option really is to use a bypass instead of trying to eek along with a minimally-qualifying bulb.
I’m with @hydro311 on this one – Philips has been rock solid for me (both Hue and dumb bulbs). Do you have a can light fixture or is it a BR30/40?
I haven’t tried Feit (also had a lot of issues with them in the past, so I haven’t bothered, but great to hear they’re getting better).
The only other brand I’ve had really good luck with is GE - more specifically the Reveal and Relax lines.
But I’ve swapped everything over to Philips and love the Ultra Definition ones that have the, “Warm Glow Effect”
If it’s being used in a single pole application setting parameter 22 to 1 or 3-way mode should make the relay physically cut power and that might stop the glowing.
Voltages measured on the load or traveller terminal with nothing connected don’t mean anything. There are circuits inside that will leak some current which means they produce a lot of voltage without a load connected.
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Check out my post awhile back. I had a red series dimmer and when it was off I noticed a faint glow from my led fixture. Not sure if it’s the same thing but worth checking.
https://community.inovelli.com/t/lzw31-sn-red-series-dimmer-faint-light/12723?u=steven
Without a neutral the switch has to leak a larger amount of current to power the internal electronics. That is fine for incandescent lights but with LED lights the leaked current can charge up the internal electronics of the bulb to a level that it will turn on very briefly, causing a glow as it is oscillating on and off. With a Neutral the switch doesn’t need to leak for internal powering but since the switch uses solid state electronics it will always leak some current to the load unless a relay is used to fully disconnect the load when switch is off. Since LED drivers typically have very low quiescent current draw and very high impedance when off, a minimal amount of current is all that is needed to charge the capacitor up to the turn on voltage. To get past this you need more LED lights on the circuit or LED lights that have internal bleeder resistor or circuit. A single incandescent bulb on the circuit will also solve the problem.
Came back from the trip and installed bypass capacitor.
Looks like it fixed the issue
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I’m using a VZW31-SN with a neutral wire,in single pole wiring, in dimmer mode. Setting parameter 22 to ‘3-ways with dumb/toggle switch’’ even if not wired to any other switch for a 3 way config fixed the problem with led lights kept glowing/flickering when turned off. Like you said, I can now hear the relay click when turned off just like you would if the switch would be configured in on/off mode but you keep the dimming and ramp up/down functions.
See the huge difference
Dimming mode, neutral wire, parameter 22 set to single pole, switch set to off in remote or local control:
Dimming mode, neutral wire, parameter 22 set to 3 way (no 3 way switch physically connected), switch set to off in remote or local control:
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