9/10/2023 0 Comments Dimmable ledThese LED Strips can work for a variety of applications, both indoor and outdoor. LED Strip Lights are a great solution for Accent Lighting, Deck & Patio Lighting, Task Lighting, Under Cabinet Lighting, Kitchen Lighting, Landscaping & Architectural Lighting, and much more. Lutron's new Smart Hub for smart dimming control is due out in September, Belkin has Wemo LEDs coming soon, and yet-to-be released options like the Philips Hue Lux and the Samsung Bluetooth Smart LED are even promising to let you dial in to your specific color temperature of choice.Also known as LED Tape Lights or LED Ribbon Lights. Of these white-light-only smart lights, the Insteon LED and the Connected by TCP Wireless LED Lighting Kit are two of our current favorites, and the field is only going to get more competitive. Those have their appeal, but you can save a lot of money by eschewing the color-changing novelty factor and opting instead for a simpler smart light. You might be most familiar with options like Philips Hue and Lifx, which offer complete RGB color control in addition to a full, dimmable white light spectrum. We've already tested and reviewed several of these types of bulbs. Best of all, they're a lot more affordable than you might think. Bulbs like these are a terrific option for flexible dimming control, because they'll work with any fixture in your home. These days, you'll find plenty of bulbs with built-in dimming smarts - no wall dimmer needed. Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNETĭimmability doesn't have to come from a wall switch. If dimmability is your chief concern, a smart, app-controlled lighting setup like the Connected by TCP kit might be your best bet. For the most part, the buzzing in the LEDs we tested fell somewhere in the middle: fairly moderate, but certainly loud enough to be a legitimate bother. The result you want is a bulb that rates "very quiet" across the board, as even a "quiet" buzz can get annoying in a quiet room. We rated each bulb's buzz on each dimmer using a five-point scale - very quiet, quiet, moderate, loud, and very loud. Sure enough, the 60-watt incandescents that we tested out in our rig put out a noticeable buzz across all three switches.Įven without filaments, LEDs have plenty of parts that can vibrate and produce that annoying buzz, and most of the ones we tested did just that, even well-rated bulbs like the Cree 60-watt replacement LED and the GE Reveal LED. The tungsten filaments in most incandescent bulbs are particularly susceptible to the buzz-producing vibration caused by in-wall dimmers. Most of today's LEDs are dimmable - but does that mean that they'll dim well? Ry Crist/CNETĭimming annoyances aren't a new problem - and they aren't a problem that's unique to LEDs, either. As you'll see, dimmable LEDs are not all created equal. That lends a lot of credence to manufacturer claims of wide dimmer compatibility - but it's only the start of the story. Interestingly enough, each and every LED that we tested dimmed with all three dimmers, even the one rated only for incandescent use. As such, your mileage may vary - especially if you're using an older model, or something more high end. Though we aimed for a good representation of what's out there, there are obviously more than three kinds of dimmer switches on the market. We chose an LED-compatible model from Lutron, a similar Leviton switch, and a cheap, $5 triac rotary dial intended for incandescents only. We started with a simple rig using a few common dimmer switches. These rapid-fire swings in voltage create electromagnetic resistance in the bulb, which can cause things to vibrate and buzz. Modern dimmers (the kinds you'll find on the shelf at Lowe's or Home Depot) won't actually raise and lower the voltage for smooth dimming, but will instead flash the power up and down at unnoticeably high speeds to create the illusion of dimming.
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