Dimmer to use for under cabinet lights

[bebster]

I'm picking out some under cabinet lights for a new kitchen.

I can get them in low voltage xenon like these

http://www.nslusa.com/xenontask.html

or these

http://www.junolightinggroup.com/product_detail.asp?ino=2565&Sel_Id=2093&brand=1

which they say "For best results use dimmer specifically designed for use with electronic low voltage transformers."

But I want to make sure that one of the two C4 dimmer versions will work with them or something similar to them. Any suggestions?

I guess I could use trial and error, but don't want to fry a dimmer in the process (would I if I didn't exceed the wattage spec of the dimmer?)

[thecodeman]

If anything, you'll want to try this one:

http://www.control4.com/products/42/56/control4_wireless_elv_dimmer_120v/

Though remember everything new is shipping on Zigbee Pro now and you'll have to update to 1.8 if you aren't already running it.

[tumult]

can't tell if those are the undercabinet lights we used, but we never had a problem controlling them with the regular c4 dimmer.

tum

[ILoveC4]

I use a switch on mine, not a dimmer for this very reason.

[RyanE]

I have 120V puck dimmers under my cabinets, and rope lights on the top.

They both dim perfectly, but you shouldn't expect otherwise with 120V lights.

RyanE

[bebster]

Thanks for the tips, and the chart that Cody referred to.

Sounds like the way to go is to try the regular C4 dimmers (C4-DIM1-Z), and if that doesn't work, try the reverse-phase ELV dimmer (C4-TDIM1-Z). Most likely one of the two will do the job.

It seems the regular forward-phase dimmer works with magnetic transformers, and the reverse-phase ELV dimmer works with electronic transformers. And use that as a hint as to which dimmer to try first.

Although I don't particularly like the power consumption of the ELV dimmer (2W) vs that of the forward-phase dimmer (350mW). 2W may not sound like much but that's 17kWh per year per dimmer.