Best way to get reliable dimmable remote controlled LED lighting

scarletjim

I have 10 halogen spotlights in my lounge, of which only 4 are currently operational. A few are probably just bulbs gone, others I think are transformers gone, as they don't come on when I replaced the bulbs. To avoid this going forward, and also to save energy, I'm planning to move to LEDs. However because it's my lounge, and me and the girlfriend often want to dim the lights when cuddled up watching a film, I'd quite like to get them working by remote control, or Android app control, if practical. Any tips? In particular:

• Are dimming LEDs 'smooth' enough when dimmed? I have them fitted in my kitchen, and the low dim is very 'jumpy' - I don't know if that's just because of the quality of bulbs or dimmer...
• How would you do the 'remote' bit? If I understand correctly, I could either remote control the dimmer itself (via Lightwave products or similar), or I could actually buy Wifi controlled LED bulbs- which is better for what I want to do?
• What LED transformers / drivers do I need? One for each bulb, or one to run them all? (The former I assume)
• Has anyone reading this actually done this in their house?

I will get an electrician to do it obviously (my GF is Polish, and her dad will be visiting in a couple of months, and is an electrician, I'm sure he will help me do it if I have the equipment ready and ask him nicely ) - but I need to know what to buy first...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

scarletjim

Bump - is there really no one who has done this? Would really appreciate any comments / suggestions...

Jonesya

You can get remote controlled dimmers that will dim, dimmable LED lamps, see link for example. As for smoothness/performance, I don't think anyone can give you a precise answer as it depends on both the dimmer and the lamps and how they interact - I think all you can do is buy a suitable dimmer, check any guidance in the manual on lamps they recommend for compatibilty, and buy good quality dimmable LED lamps from a recognised manufacturer.

http://www.varilight.co.uk/dimmers/v-pro-ir.html

[Edit] I think that dimmer is intended to directly drive LED lamps, ie you'd want 240v GU10 type led lamps and fittings. Not transformer fed led lamps like mr16

scarletjim

Hmm I'd missed the obvious, never thought about good old traditional Infra Red remote control... Thanks.

elstimpo

scarletjim wrote: »

I have 10 halogen spotlights in my lounge, of which only 4 are currently operational. A few are probably just bulbs gone, others I think are transformers gone, as they don't come on when I replaced the bulbs. To avoid this going forward, and also to save energy, I'm planning to move to LEDs. However because it's my lounge, and me and the girlfriend often want to dim the lights when cuddled up watching a film, I'd quite like to get them working by remote control, or Android app control, if practical. Any tips? In particular:

• Are dimming LEDs 'smooth' enough when dimmed? I have them fitted in my kitchen, and the low dim is very 'jumpy' - I don't know if that's just because of the quality of bulbs or dimmer...
• How would you do the 'remote' bit? If I understand correctly, I could either remote control the dimmer itself (via Lightwave products or similar), or I could actually buy Wifi controlled LED bulbs- which is better for what I want to do?
• What LED transformers / drivers do I need? One for each bulb, or one to run them all? (The former I assume)
• Has anyone reading this actually done this in their house?

I will get an electrician to do it obviously (my GF is Polish, and her dad will be visiting in a couple of months, and is an electrician, I'm sure he will help me do it if I have the equipment ready and ask him nicely ) - but I need to know what to buy first...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Very important to note that not every LED dimmer unit is compatible with every LED - a good retailer or manufacturer should be able to advise which dimmer unit they have tested with their LED products and works seamlessly.

If you have GX5.3 (mr16) fittings then I would seriously recommend changing these fittings to GU10 rather than mess around with having to find a dimmable LED transformer compatible with your chosen LED and have that fitted to each and every fitting and then a dimmer unit.

Usually far easier and cheaper to switch to GU10's

A good quality dimmable LED and dimmer unit show dim smoothly and have a wide dimming range.

lstar337

Why not look at Lifx of Philips Hue.

I have a Lifx bulb myself and it works very well.

http://lifx.co/

http://www2.meethue.com/en-gb/

scarletjim

Hmm that would be even better, but I think too expensive for my lounge. I have 10 spots in my lounge, and at £50 per bulb, that would be a pretty huge outlay. I'd be happy having just say 3 or 4 of those 10 bulbs converted to Hue bulbs, but I'm not sure that would work - currently I have a dimmer with 2 knobs, one controls 6 bulbs and the other controls 4, not sure Hue would be ok with a dimmer and mixed with non-Hue bulbs...


Presumably if I am happy to dim all the lights together, then logically it must be cheaper to get a IR or Wifi dimmer than get individual Wifi bulbs (though I might try another room in my house for that - it's too cool to not do at all! lol). So the 'remote' bit might be achievable for the whole room just by buying a £40/50 IR dimmer switch. With regard to bulbs, I think I will take the good advice above and move to GU10 fittings with good quality bulbs. In which case I need to check which bulbs are recommended for the IR dimmer I choose.

scarletjim

Good - they will work with a Sky remote, that's helpful.


http://theinternetlightswitchstore.com/shop-by-switch-type/remote-dimmer-switches/varilight-2-gang-2x250w-eclipse-remote-control-touch-led-dimmer-screwless-mocha-jdmi252s.html


Where can I find out which bulbs work best with this?

scarletjim

Having changed nearly the entire house from Halogen to LED, I am now left with just the bathrooms. But when I pull out the fittings above my shower, they are very different, they don't have the long cylindrical fitting, there is hardly anything to the fitting - is that normal?

When I look at the IP65 rated versions of the fittings I bought for the other rooms, I find there are two types, one with the full cylindrical backpart, and the other with much less - is one more recommended than the other? Can I use either? Pictures of them here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MiniSun-Bathroom-Shower-Ceiling-Downlight/dp/B00L8SN122/ref=sr_1_2?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1434727506&sr=1-2&keywords=minisun+gu10+white+downlights+ip65

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MiniSun-Bathroom-Recessed-Ceiling-Downlight/dp/B00L8S8Q3Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1434710677&sr=1-1&keywords=minisun+gu10+white+downlights+ip65

DevCoder

The one with the full cylindrical part is a fire hood fitting.

Depending on what is above you or whether you live in a flat will depend on whether you should use them.

Personally I fitted fire-rated fittings in every location.

scarletjim

My loft is above the bathroom, so there is plenty of room - I wonder why the bloke who built my house (which he and his family lived in 7 years...) chose not to use fire-rated ones...