- Posted on
Fri Dec 04, 2020 10:52 am
-
dduff617
offline
-
- Posts: 662
- Joined: Jul 05, 2006
- Location: Massachusetts, USA
There are several z-wave controllers that operate as low-voltage controllers.
I have a Fibaro brand RGBW controller. It takes 12V to 24V DC input and provides four separately controlled outputs, which can be used for the four channels of an RGBW LED strip light or can be used to control four separate monochromatic low-voltage loads. The Fibaro is supported in Indigo and I presume the other brands are as well, since they probably follow standard z-wave dimmer protocols.
The Fibaro model has been out a while (about 4-5 years ago, I think). Some other models that are available now that are similar include Zooz Zen31 (which happens to be inexpensive), Monoprice 36511, Qubino QUZMNHWD3, etc.
These units operate completely on the low-voltage side, downstream from your power supply. I find that they are well-behaved dimmers for any type of light but especially for LED, as they use pulse-width modulation (essentially turning the power on and off very quickly) for dimming. Using Fibaro RGBW, I saw no flicker and perfectly uniform and smooth dimming behavior all the way from 0% to 100% -- no dead bands and no hysteresis, unlike when trying to control an LED light fixture on an Insteon or Z-wave dimmer switch, for example.
Another way to go that I've used in the past is to put an AC control (such as an Insteon or Z-Wave dimmer switch, plugin module, or in-line module) upstream from the transformer or power supply. In this case, you must be sure to use a dimmable power supply.
In the "old days" you drove your landscape lights from a transformer, typically a magnetic one. Power from the transformer was 12V AC, lights were incandescent. These days, LED fixtures and electronic low voltage power supplies are more common. You can research to see what options there are for AC vs. DC fixtures and power supplies and their compatibility, but you should know that the z-wave controllers I identified above only work on DC low voltage systems.