Attempting to set up a brand new SmartThings system in my home and I’m trying to find a dimmer switch that is rated for Magnetic Low Voltage LED bulbs. We recently renovated our home and had the whole electrical system redone, so all of our switches have a neutral wire in them. At the time of our renovation, we decided to just put in basic switches in all the rooms (no dimmers at all) in the hopes that we could put a smart system in when we were ready. I found that the Cooper RF9540-NDW Decorator Z-Wave 3-Way, 3-Wire 600 watt Dimmer is rated for what I need, but another post mentioned that it caused the transformed to buzz. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!
Cooper and Leviton both make models that will work. Buzzing is a factor of the combination of the lighting used, the fixture, and the switch. So one person might get buzzing from the switch while another doesn’t have any buzzing in their house. Sometimes you just have to try a couple of switches until you find one that works well for you. So make sure you buy from places with a good return policy.
The following Leviton model is on the official “works with SmartThings” list. So I would probably go with that one first.
The one thing to notice about the Leviton is is that they have a slightly unusual form factor. You always press the bottom of the switch, rather than pressing the top for brighter and the bottom for lower. You get used to it pretty quickly, but some people prefer a more traditional rocker.
@Navat604 or one of the other electrical expert’s in the community might have more advice on what does and doesn’t cause buzzing.
I sometimes have buzzing and other times don’t … I don’t think you can even say in this specific setting this will / won’t buzz… even with all the correct parts, sometimes i get buzz sometimes not. I think there is “leakage” at times (variables) that is unavoidable… NOT an electrician, but have had multiple electricians opinions (including guys that have been around from the start / installs of X10). If someone has a fix I am all ears.
I am curious to why you are going with the Magnetic low voltage led? Rail lighting or style you want? Buzzing is one of the hardest to deal with residential home for me. I remember using a bunch of power line filters for a house using low voltage LEDs and moved sensitive loads away from the dimmer circuit.
I don’t know about Leviton but Cooper is a good dimmer and usually quality dimmers use choke and filter in part of their circuit to help with buzzing.
We went with the magnetic low voltage for style & energy savings. Our lights are not currently buzzing, but before I invested in a dimmer switch to work with the SmartThings hub, I was researching and read a post where another user had complained about a buzzing while using the switch I was about to buy, so I was looking to see if there was any other user suggestions before pulling the purchase trigger. But just purchased the Cooper switch today, so fingers crossed we don’t get any buzzing I’ll report back once we install them!
I tried a Zooz ZEN22 dimmer and it has ZERO buzz vs my non-smart LVM specific dimmer. However, Zooz says do not use our dimmers with LVM transformers. I would appreciate any input.
