Re: LED dimmable bulbs with X10 switches

[Pat <pat@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 21 Feb 2015 11:03:33 -0800, "Bob F" <bobnospam@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>Bob F wrote:
>> I just bought some Cree LED soft white "60W" "4FLOW filamant design"
>> bulbs.
>> On one circuit, with just one bulb, the bulb lights at a mid level
>> when off or full brightness when switched on at the switch. The
>> switches involved are the old X10 switches with a lower section that
>> slides to the left to cut off all power. The problem is that the X10
>> controller cannot turn that bulb either on or off. Turning other
>> circuits using the same controller continues to work fine.
>> On another circuit, there is a 2 bulb fixture downstairs and a 2 bulb
>> fixture upstairs, all currently incandescent bulbs. If I remove one
>> of the incandescent bulbs downstairs and replace it with the LED
>> bulb, everything works OK, with the incandescent bulbs dimming much
>> more than the LED bulb when the dimming function is used. When I
>> removed the downstairs incandescent bulb,leaving the LED bulb, again
>> I could not control the lights with the X10 controller. This is
>> despite the 2 incandescent bulbs in the upstairs fixture.
>> Has anyone here seen similar problems, and come up with any solutions
>> to them?
>> I do realize that the low brightness issue in the off position of the
>> initial circuit is do to the switch sense feature of the X10
>> switches, and that the incandescent bulbs in the second circuit
>> eliminate that problem there.
>
>I just tried the second circuit again, and it seems I can turn in off with the
>controller, but not on.
>
Interesting.  The last time I was in Home Depot, I saw those.  I
suppose they disipate heat better than the old sealed ones.  The
application I was buying bulbs for is outside and has lots of insects
in the summer, so I bought the older style to avoid those slots from
becoming filled with dead insects.

Anyway, the older style work well with my X10 installation.  However,
I am using older smarthome wall switches (old, but not as old as your
even older switches).  So, I'm not sure if the 4FLOWs make more noise
or my switches handle them better.  Good luck.