[REWARDS POINTS OPPORTUNITY] List Your Compatible Bulbs and/or Fan

EH Edit (03/09/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add full points?

  • (@mamber - @kreene1987 gave this as a compatible bulb a while back, but I’m not sure who had it first, so I’m going to award you both full points)

@mamber – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Here is a posting for a Toggled band florescent tube replacement. I tweaked your list a bit. First I added a first line to indicate which switch I’m using it with. (As I understand it, the post should be done here first, correct?) This is extremely important I found out the hard way. I bought a bunch of Cree and GE Ultra Brights dimmable candelabra bulbs as they were listed as being compatible only to find out they (I assume) are compatible with Red or Black dimmers but not with the fan/light switch (which is what I’m using them in). (BTW, I’ll do another post but while the Cree doesn’t flicker, it won’t dim at all and the GEs would dim just a bit and flicker on the way up or down a bit and both are listed as dimmable).

I also added a line near the bottom as to whether or not this is a smart bulb (i.e. one that be be controlled on its own. BTW, if it is a smart bulb there should be line items for type like RBG or RBGW and Kelvin range (That would make it easier to digest then just putting something like that in the comments. I also think that would be too important to just be left to the comments.)

I also split the Wattage into 2 lines for actual and equivalent.

I also didn’t know how to fill in the Min and Max settings (which are important as they are worth bonus points) as I don’t set them. As I understand it, the Min and Max settings are only used if the bulbs flicker above or below a certain point. (I’ve tried to research Min and Max settings but that is all I have been able to find out about them. If there is some other reason to set those values please let me know.) While my bulbs turn off at a certain point, say 30%, I don’t set this as a minimum setting as they don’t flicker down to there, they just turn off. Plus, I’ve found that Alexa can’t turn on a light to as low a % as I can manually dim them too. So I just put in there that I left them at the Hubitat Default setting. Does that count for to get me the points for those lines?

I also added a line for Dimmable Yes/No. (Just having a Min and Max setting isn’t enough to tell us if it is dimmable or not, as in my case I don’t set them. Plus, having such a line item makes it immediately clear and is what a lot of people are searching for.)

I also tweaked the terminology to Bulb Base and Bulb Style to be more concise and readable. (Like I did for Wattage Actual and Wattage Equivalent and I did a couple of other little tweaks to the categories like just Neutral/Non-Neutral wire and added Yes/No to Compatible)

Also, how about bonus points for being the first in a category? I searched and searched and did multiple posts hoping to find some information on a compatible tube bulb. Someone had suggested the Toggled as a possibility (which is why I tried them) but they didn’t seem to know for sure. When I contacted Toggled directly they said they are trailing edge. I also posted questions asking what would happen if I used a trailing edge bulb with a leading edge dimmer (i.e. the Red Dimmers) but got no answers. I took the chance as I could easily return them to Home Depot, but I was worried about even trying them as I had to have the ballast cut out of my old florescent fixtures.

@Brianna_Inovelli – approved w/full points on 03/22/21 – it’s in the internal spreadsheet

(I’m using @skarden’s tweaked format since its a little better IMHO - hopefully this won’t cause problems :wink: )

  • Used With = Red Dimmer - LZW31-SN
  • Compatible (Yes/No)* = Yes
  • Neutral/Non-Neutral Wire = Neutral
  • Brand* = Energetic
  • Bulb Style = Candelabra
  • Bulb Base = E12
  • Wattage Actual = 5
  • Wattage Equivalent = 60
  • Kelvin = 2700K (Soft White)
  • Model* = YGA16A00-CA11 (FLAME TIP)
  • Min Setting* = 40
  • Max Setting* = 99
  • Dimmable Yes/No = Yes
  • Smart Bulb Yes/No = No
  • Where to Buy* = Amazon
  • Link to Item = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081GCWT6Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  • Notes = LED chandelier bulb with FLAME tip.
    image

EH Edit (03/09/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add full points?
@mamber – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

  • Used With = Red Dimmer - LZW31-SN
  • Compatible (Yes/No)* = Yes
  • Neutral/Non-Neutral Wire = Neutral
  • Brand* = Energetic
  • Bulb Style = Candelabra
  • Bulb Base = E12
  • Wattage Actual = 5
  • Wattage Equivalent = 60
  • Kelvin = 2700K (Soft White)
  • Model* = YGA16A00-B11 (ROUND TIP)
  • Min Setting* = 40
  • Max Setting* = 99
  • Dimmable Yes/No = Yes
  • Smart Bulb Yes/No = No
  • Where to Buy* = Amazon
  • Link to Item = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YKCWLP3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  • Notes = LED chandelier bulb with ROUND TIP.
    image

EH Edit (03/10/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add full points?
@mamber – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

  • Used With = Red Dimmer - LZW31-SN
  • Compatible (Yes/No)* = Yes - but non-dimmable
  • Neutral/Non-Neutral Wire = Neutral
  • Brand* = Energetic
  • Bulb Style = Standard
  • Bulb Base = A19
  • Wattage Actual = 9
  • Wattage Equivalent = 60
  • Kelvin = 3000K (Warm White)
  • Model* = YGA03A41
  • Min Setting* = set to maximum
  • Max Setting* = 99
  • Dimmable Yes/No = NO
  • Smart Bulb Yes/No = No
  • Where to Buy* = Amazon
  • Link to Item = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YKD2HFL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  • Notes = Non-dimmable standard LED bulb. Works fine with Inovelli configured for non-dimmable bulb
    image

EH Edit (03/10/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add full points?
@mamber – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

You guys are awesome! @mamber & @skarden – what are your thoughts on this layout for the compatible bulb chart?

Example:

  • Click on Recessed/Panel – then scroll to the right

I’m wondering if I should change it and put the brand in the first column so you can easily look for your brand…

But the gist of it is so you can see if it’s compatible, how many verified users there are (the more verified, the more confident you can feel in purchasing), then a picture so you can verify easily.

Then the rest to the right is more relevant info.

Thoughts?

1 Like
  • Used With = Red Dimmer - LZW31-SN
  • Compatible* = Yes
  • Neutral Setting
  • Brand* = Philips
  • Style of Bulb = BR30
  • Base of Bulb = E26
  • Wattage = 9w
  • Kelvin = 2200K - 2700K (“Warm Glow Effect”)
  • Model* = 457036
  • Min Setting* = 35
  • Max Setting* = 99
  • Where to Buy* = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0146Q0RZQ
  • Notes = the minimum level is perhaps a bit surprisingly high but they work great. zero flickering, turn off entirely (no bypass needed), warm-glow as you dim down is gorgeous.

EH Edit (03/10/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add full points?
@martybird – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

I like it! :+1:

Yes :v:

The white on black vs black on white is just an esthetic such as “dark mode” on cell phones, so either is fine (though I do prefer white on black. :slight_smile:)

While sorting on compatibility is crucial I think it would be better to have two separate tables - one for those being compatible and one for those that are not. Besides making the list shorter, you could then get rid of the entire first column and save a lot of screen real estate.

I see you have mixed 2 styles in Recessed/Panel but that means you need a Style column for that. I’d just make them separate drop downs so you can get rid of that column.

I would also list all 9 types (making recessed/panel into separate types) in each drop down, even if there aren’t any listed there yet. Consistency is key and at least the end user knows you just haven’t forgotten about that type of bulb for that switch. Plus, it is less work for you when a previously unreported type comes in.

I would make the verified users the last column as that is just the icing on the cake.

I would also like to see all the info you are asking for the posts to be here too. (Plus what I added too. :wink:) It is all very necessary when each user is trying to select the bulbs for their needs. If nothing else from my suggestions, I would certainly add entries Dimmable and Smart Bulb to the listed items. I mean, why ask us to provide all that information for the points but then not add it to the Wiki?

One other suggestion is to have each bulb picture have its own drop down that would then list the various switches under that. For example, I came looking for a bulb to replace my florescents - not I have a Fan/Light or a Red Dimmer and which bulbs work with it. (Though, of course that is important too - I’m just pointing out that people may come looking from the direction of the type of bulb desired.)

I’m not really into spreadsheets much, but from what I have seen, I think it would be easy for you to do both sorts in something like Excel with what I think is called a cross-tab. That way you won’t have to be entering the data - once for a sort by switch and a second time for a sort by bulb type.

Thanks,

Stuart

  • Used With = Red Dimmer - LZW31-SN
  • Compatible (Yes/No)* = Yes
  • Neutral/Non-Neutral Wire = Neutral
  • Brand* = Luminus LED
  • Bulb Style = Can
  • Bulb Base = E26
  • Wattage Actual = 17
  • Wattage Equivalent = 100
  • Kelvin = 5000K (Daylight)
  • Model* = PLYC5735
  • Min Setting* = 35
  • Max Setting* = 99
  • Dimmable Yes/No = Yes
  • Smart Bulb Yes/No = No
  • Where to Buy* = Amazon
  • Link to Item = https://www.amazon.com/Luminus-PLYC5735-BR40-17W-Daylight-Dimmable/dp/B01GSGMTZ8
  • Notes = Dimmable LED BR40 recessed Can light
    image

EH Edit (03/10/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add full points?
@mamber – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

I think ALL of my LED lights need a relatively high minimum level (>40 to turn on). And this is one of several reasons why I think the Inovelli driver limit of 45 is too restrictive. There has been some discussion about this in other threads and I’m really hoping the next firmware release will allow higher mimimum settings @EricM_Inovelli ?

1 Like

I’ve been looking at this wondering if they would be compatible. Thanks for sharing!

Used With = Red Dimmer - LZW31-SN
Compatible (Yes/No)* = Yes
Neutral/Non-Neutral Wire = Neutral
Brand* = Cree
Bulb Style = A19
Bulb Base = E26
Wattage Actual = 5.5
Wattage Equivalent = 40
Kelvin = 5000K (Daylight)
Model* = TA19-04550MDFH25-12DE26-1-12
Min Setting* = 32
Max Setting* = 99
Dimmable Yes/No = Yes
Smart Bulb Yes/No = No
Where to Buy* = Home Depot
Link to Item = https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-40W-Equivalent-Daylight-5000K-A19-Dimmable-Exceptional-Light-Quality-LED-Light-Bulb-2-Pack-TA19-04550MDFH25-12DE26-1-12/304006418

EH Edit (03/10/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add full points?
@yllw98stng – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

Yes, and even the Halo is dimmable. But don’t overlook this note:

Very important to set the Inovelli Ramp Rate to 0 to get reliable control of the halo ring.

Based on your picture and the link to Home Depot, those look like “Standard” bulbs, not “Candelabra” :thinking:

Used With = Red Dimmer - LZW31-SN
Compatible (Yes/No)* = Yes
Neutral/Non-Neutral Wire = Neutral
Brand* = Cree
Bulb Style = A19
Bulb Base = E26
Wattage Actual = 10
Wattage Equivalent = 50
Kelvin = 5000K (Daylight)
Model* = TA19-08050MDFH25-12DE26-1-12
Min Setting* = 32
Max Setting* = 99
Dimmable Yes/No = Yes
Smart Bulb Yes/No = No
Where to Buy* = Home Depot
Link to Item = https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-60W-Equivalent-Daylight-5000K-A19-Dimmable-Exceptional-Light-Quality-LED-Light-Bulb-2-Pack-TA19-08050MDFH25-12DE26-1-12/304006411

EH Edit (03/10/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add full points?
@yllw98stng – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

I don’t really care that much about ramp rate, so setting to 0 is just fine with me. Yes, I edited that candelabra bulb type to A19 a couple minutes ago.

Awesome, thanks!

Me too :slight_smile:

Question for you here bc I had thought of that initially for the same benefits you mention. I guess my thought process was that if I didn’t see my bulb in the compatibility list, I would think either a) it hadn’t been tested yet so it’s not on the list or b) it’s not compatible.

Hence, I could save the step by putting it all in one table to eliminate the options. In other words, if you see your product is listed as non-compatible, you’d know and if you didn’t see your product, you could assume it hasn’t been tested yet.

But, the more I’m playing with this, I think the benefits outweigh the confusion, so I’m going to go with your suggestion and make two drop-downs (compatible & non-compatible). I’ll put a disclaimer above it saying, “if you don’t see your bulb in the compatible list, check the incompatible list next. If it’s not listed, then we haven’t tested it”

That work?

I’m liking your style (pun intended) – I think I can do that.

Fair point, I’ll do that. Thanks!

I’m back and forth on this one – the verified users to me (once the Wiki grows) should add a layer of confidence if someone is shopping for bulbs. I can see the point about putting it last as it really is icing on the cake and oftentimes won’t impact the purchasing decision – but on the other hand if you’re at Home Depot or Lowes looking at bulbs it’d be nice to see that up front as you’re likely on mobile and may not scroll to the right.

Side note, it really would be nice to have some sort of built in filtering system that could sort this – but I haven’t found any Discourse plugins that can do this. In other words, you select your product, bulb style, location, etc and it spits out compatible bulbs based on a database.

@EricM_Inovelli – can your L10 Wizard status think of a way to do this via HTML or something? I’m not sure on the limitations of Discourse as it’s meant more for a forum not a database, but who knows.

Interesting – Brianna and I had talked about this and what I was balancing between was User Experience vs keeping everything in one place (ie: no multiple instances to edit).

In other words, the main page (ie: bulb compatibility page) would be the one, “source of truth” which is edited and maintained and all roads lead to that instead of having the same, “source of truth” across multiple pages. This way we won’t have to remember where the data is spread out across and edit multiple pages.

However, this does lead to a degraded User Experience as you have to go to the bulb page and check vs just staying on this page.

Smart/Dimming/On/Off is a great add. I’ll put that column in. I guess I just figured the bulbs that worked on a dimmer would be assumed to be dimmable, but I didn’t think of the smart bulb angle.

This is interesting – I’m not sure how to pull this one off easily as there are multiple bulb SKU’s under each type (ie: Standard would have 100’s of compatible bulbs).

What I could do is maybe create some sort of matrix at the bottom of the page that has the switches across the top and the bulbs running down the side (I’d hyperlink the bulbs so you could go to the page and put a picture next to them)

I could even see if I could collapse each section (ie: Standard, Track) and you’d be able to expand them.

This would give you a high level view of what’s compatible with what and if you wanted to dig further, you could go to the specific section (ie: Black Series Dimmer) and drill down further to see more details.

Thoughts?

Yeah, the problem is translating that into Markdown/HTML which is what Discourse (our forum) uses. It’s actually a PITA with complex tables.

I appreciate the feedback – I have some work to do!

Compatible* = Yes
Used in a Neutral or Non-Neutral Setting: Non-Neutral
Brand* = Philips
Style of Bulb = BR30
Base of Bulb = E26
Wattage = 50W
Kelvin =  2900K
Model* = 454827
Min Setting* = N/A
Max Setting* = N/A
Where to Buy* = https://www.amazon.com/Philips-454827-Halogen-Flood-Dimmable/dp/B0187G2QCI

EH Edit (03/10/2021): Submitted & Approved
@Brianna_Inovelli can you add asterisked points?
@krisk – you should’ve received an auto-email from Microsoft if all went well :slight_smile:

Thank you for taking my suggestions to heart.

I agree a filter or some way to do different sorts would be 100% helpful. Maybe someone is looking for a smart bulb, others if it is dimmable and yet others for a particular wattage or kelvin and definitely by base type.

I’d love to help program something like this but I’m only a self-taught VBA programmer from about 1980 to now. (Just bragging now :slight_smile:, I can also do the XML programming to control the Ribbon in Word too (which I find to be really cool to see it change depending on what file I open), but that’s all I’ve ever had to do in my day job. (I did help set up a web page once, but that was about 12 years ago and it involved just the most minimal amount of HTML programming to allow people making reservations to pay with PayPal), so I’m not really your guy for that)).

Just from how I would want to use such a tool I start by thinking of what I want for a particular fixture. The first thing I need to know is do I need it to be a smart bulb or not. After that I need to know what kind of base it has. After that I decide if I want it to be dimmable or not. I then decide on how bright it should be (Watt equivalence). Finally, I decide on the Kelvin “color”. It is at that point that I know the bulb I want and I would then need to know if it worked with a particular switch or not. (But if you are going to have separate tables for that, then a column/line entry for that is moot.) After finding such a bulb on your list I would then want to know where to get it, how much it is, and who makes it, with a model # if possible so I could search for it on my own for price and availability.

So for me I would pick the bulb base first instead of the switch type. If you can’t do it both ways I’d pick by bulb type because: 1) I think more people think that way about the bulb they are looking for and 2) I’m not sure if there are more bulb types then you have switch types, meaning fewer dropdowns. (Plus, I just think starting by picking the bulb picture is cooler).

Oh, one last thing: I was thinking about maybe also listing the bulb shape, but the more I think about it the more I think that is for the notes and/or a picture.

Stuart

2 Likes

Thinking out loud here:

I wonder if it would be best if we had a shared spreadsheet that you could click on that would allow for these filters if that would be better?

The more I think about this, I think that may be a great way to go about it.

I definitely know my way around Excel so if I could create some sort of sheet where you could select your inputs and it would show you what’s compatible. This way you could approach it via the bulb or the switch.

Only issue would be if multiple people were in there at once messing with it. I’m not as familiar with how Office 365 works from a cloud side of things.

I’ll come back to this thought, but I’m kind of excited about it.

1 Like