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When you’re dimming LEDs, compatibility matters. There’s nothing worse than finishing a beautiful installation and finding out that your LEDs don’t work right. Incompatible dimmer switches are often the culprit, and can result in flickering, irregular dimming, and in some cases, increased failure risk and reduced driver lifespan! This week’s blog will help you quickly and easily pick the right dimmable driver for your project.
Your first step is to determine which type of Dimmable Driver you’re using. Your HitLights Drivers will come in three types - Universal, Magnetic, and Electronic. The type of driver will determine which dimmer switches you can and cannot use. Your product name, description, and label will tell you which one you have, but here’s a quick cheat sheet.
Universal :
We only have one driver in this category. The 24 Watt Universal Dimmable Driver is not only our smallest dimmable driver, it is also the only universal driver (which we’ll talk about shortly).
Magnetic :
If your driver is in a black metal enclosure, chances are it’s a Magnetic dimmable driver. These are the tried-and-true stalwarts of dimmable drivers, and as a bonus, most of them include the knockouts to keep your installation up to code.
Electronic :
Our electronic drivers are slim, and most of them come in a blue metal enclosure. Most of them are rated IP-67, too, which makes them handy for external applications.
So, which dimmer switch do you need?
If you have a universal dimmable driver, you’re in luck. You can choose ANY dimmer switch rated for LEDs. Can you guess why we call this one ‘universal’?
If you have a Magnetic dimmable driver, you have a little more work to do. Not only does your dimmer switch have to be LED compatible, it also has to be on this list.
If you have an Electronic dimmable driver, your dimmer switch has to be both LED compatible and also has to be on this list.
Both lists for Magnetic and Electronic compatible switches are not exhaustive, as new switches are coming on the market all the time. If you have questions about dimmer switch compatibility, contact us and we will direct you to our manufacturer to give you more information.
Editor's note : The popular Lutron Caseta has also been confirmed to work with our drivers.
If all of this seems like too much work, or if there are other reasons a dimmable driver is not the ideal solution for your project, our EZDim Dimmer Driver combo might be what you’re looking for. It combines the dimmer switch directly with the dimmable driver, meaning you have zero compatibility issues - and you don’t have to worry about where to install your driver. You can read a little more about whether the EZDim is right for you here.
