Question about dimmer switch compatibility with LED strips

Installed a set of 16ft LED strip lights in my basement workshop in Cleveland last week. Used a standard Lutron dimmer I had laying around. Lights flicker bad below 50% brightness. Called the supply house and they said I need an ELV or MLV dimmer for LED tape. Anyone run into this? What dimmer did you settle on for strips?

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2 Comments

hayden_rivera3mo ago

Yeah the supply house is right, standard dimmers are a nightmare with LED strips. I read somewhere that LED drivers need a specific load type and regular dimmers just can't handle it right. I ended up going with a Lutron ELV+ dimmer for my kitchen strips and it worked perfectly, no flicker at all even down to the lowest setting. MLV might work too but I'd double check what your LED driver specs actually call for before buying anything. Some of those cheap dimmers off Amazon are pure garbage and will just make it worse. If you already got the strip installed just swap the dimmer and you'll be good.

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wright.kevin3mo ago

Not sure I'd jump straight to swapping the dimmer, that's a lot of time and money if it doesn't fix it. In my experience, a lot of LED strip flicker comes down to the driver itself, not just the dimmer. I've seen cheap strips where even a good ELV dimmer still flickers because the driver was built on a budget. Your mileage may vary, but I'd check what the strip's driver actually says on the label before buying a new dimmer. A lot of those basic Lutron dimmers work fine with the right driver, so you might be chasing the wrong part.

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