"We called DMF and they gave us an approved list of dimmers and oddly enough the Lutron dimmer listed is the one for incandescent bulbs, not CL. So we switched it and that helped a teeeeeeeeeny bit. Still not great. We should've gone with the Cree! " The power supply design to work with ANY type of dimming is more expensive to design and manufacture. It takes extra circuitry and parts to convert the width of the AC wave into a dimming control signal, while still tolerating the distorted voltage and current available from the dimmers The 'magnetic' dimmers use a different device to control the AC waveform, but the power supply (CFL, florescent ballasts, LV, LED) needs to be specially designed for one type of dimmer or the other.

Sorry to be catty but be wary when taking advice from certain users. Refer to this thread as an example: "o Hardwire a chandelier". I am tired of seeing advice which is given as authoritative when it is wrong. Dimming from more than one location is simply a matter of preference in most cases but also of convenience. Texasredhead, if a light is turned to a dim glow where one can barely see should one have to walk across a room to find a dimmer to turn it up if there is a dimmer closer by? Dimming from more than one location is possible. Any reputable electrician would know that. The dimmers communicate with one another through leads on the dimmers which are linked together through the switch wiring. Tklahr, try different brands of bulbs rather than just different types. Also look for bulbs which have filament supports. Many bulbs simply have a filament stretched between two arms with nothing else and that lends itself to vibration. As for flickering, if the wiring is all sound it may be an issue of a heavy load somewhere in your home causing the flickering.

We put in four Halo 4" recessed LEDs in the bedroom. They flickered with a Leviton Z-wave low voltage dimmer switch. I changed to a Leviton low voltage dimmer switch with a physical slider, and then it worked. The same model of Leviton dimmer works with 3 other pairs of Halo LEDs in the bathroom and closets. In our kitchen, we put in nine Halo 6" LEDs. With a GE Z-wave smart dimmer, it flickered horribly. We changed to a Leviton Z-wave dimmer switch, the same model that flickered in our bedroom, and it worked fine. We only realized it was the same model after we installed it and found that it worked... In our laundry room, we have two Halo 4" LEDs with a Leviton dimmer switch, the same model as in the bedoom. In the laundry room, the lights flicker. There's a separate identical Leviton dimmer switch, bought at the same time, with four identical Halo 4" LEDs that does not flicker. All wiring is new. LED lights and dimmers are a great mystery. My advice is to try changing the dimmer switch. What I've heard is that the Lutron pro series (that you can't buy at a big box store) works perfectly with basically all LED lights.

Physical LEDs are highly directional. In constructing a bulb, the manufacturer needs to put in multiple flat panels behind the glass to cover different directions. Some cheaper bulbs skimp on this and either provide weak light out of their top(missing top LED) or out of the sides(plastic base extends far up from base). CFL are not really directional and so more tolerant. The flip side is that CFL life is even shorter on lights that are turned on and off a lot. With both CFL and LED, life is more a function of on/off cycles than hours of use. I would buy a single bulb of an LED type you are considering and observe it in a lamp (or see it lit in a store). Watch for where the light is brightest. On a downward firing light, a reflector style(BR/PR) bulb is best. LED bulbs are great at this since they do not really need a reflector. The flat LED light source is simply pointing the direction light needs to go. The hardest fixture to make an LED work with is one where the bulbs are upright since they do not send light down in the direction toward their base. As far as electric bills go, lighting is not that big a part of most electric bills with either CFL or LED. LED lights are becoming more efficient with newer designs but at this point are not noticeably better especially when used in existing bulb type fixtures. Newer fixtures with built in LEDs are a better use for LEDs and I would go this route when replacing fixtures for other reasons. It is likely most lights will be LED in 5 years or so as LED efficiency improves and light fixture designers get better at using integrated LEDs.