X10 and LED incandescent replacement bulbs

[Mark]

I hate CFLs so am experimenting with LED incandescent replacement
bulbs. My first attempt is with a C.Crane CC Vivid+ LED bulb. This
unit is only useful as a night light as it has very low output. But,
using it with a LM465 Lamp Module it does dim. However, when OFF it
still produces a dim light, presumably from the LM465 sense current.

My question is: Is this type of dim-even-when-OFF behavior going to
happen with ALL LED bulbs I may want to use (with an LM465 or
similar)? Or is it a try-it-and-see type of thing?

[Jeff Volp]

Something else to consider is that the 120V LED bulbs may contain a
switching regulator that can interfere with X10 communications. A 4W 120V
E27 Lumoform turned out to be the worse noise generator I have seen. Its
switching regulator ran almost exactly at the 120KHz X10 frequency, and it
severely effected X10 communication on its circuit - even to the Leviton
switches with "Intellisense" gated AGC.

I reported here last year that I was trying some 12V MR16 LED bulbs for our
landscape lights. While they worked well, the better ones were pretty
expensive at about $20 each. More recently I found a 5W Feit 12V MR16
compact fluorescent that works very well in the landscape lights, and is
less than half the price of the better LED bulbs. The Feit model number is
BPESLEXN. I just finished converting all our 20W halogens to these CFLs,
and they put out the same amount of light on 1/4 the power. Any noise
generated by them is blocked by the step-down transformer, and the in-line
X10 relay switch powering that transformer still works fine.

This dealer offers an excellent price on the Feit bulbs:

http://www.trianglelaptops.com/p-19-5-watt-cfl-compact-flourescent-ecobulb-12v-mr-16-par-reflector-track-light-bulb-bpeslexn.aspx

Jeff


"Mark" <x@x.com> wrote in message
news:Duydnf5mT5RZHrjXnZ2dnUVZ_s-dnZ2d@giganews.com...
>I hate CFLs so am experimenting with LED incandescent replacement bulbs.
>My first attempt is with a C.Crane CC Vivid+ LED bulb. This unit is only
>useful as a night light as it has very low output. But, using it with a
>LM465 Lamp Module it does dim. However, when OFF it still produces a dim
>light, presumably from the LM465 sense current.
>
> My question is: Is this type of dim-even-when-OFF behavior going to
> happen with ALL LED bulbs I may want to use (with an LM465 or similar)?
> Or is it a try-it-and-see type of thing?
>

[J Miller]

Mark wrote:
> I hate CFLs so am experimenting with LED incandescent replacement
> bulbs. My first attempt is with a C.Crane CC Vivid+ LED bulb. This
> unit is only useful as a night light as it has very low output. But,
> using it with a LM465 Lamp Module it does dim. However, when OFF it
> still produces a dim light, presumably from the LM465 sense current.
>
> My question is: Is this type of dim-even-when-OFF behavior going to
> happen with ALL LED bulbs I may want to use (with an LM465 or
> similar)? Or is it a try-it-and-see type of thing?
>
>
I've used LED xmas lights the last few years, and what I ended up doing
was either adding a night light (7w) or using a 120v relay and an
appliance module.

There are module hacks to eliminate the sense current, but I've not had
success with that change.