Caseta Smart Lighting Dimmer Switch for ELV Bulbs, 250W LED Bulbs, White (PD-5NE-WH)

I paired this Caseta dimmer with a couple of Cree dimmable LED bulbs, and in combination with a Lutron Pico remote, I now have fully dimmable overhead lighting in my office - dimmable both at the wall switch and from my desk, with the remote (sold separately). This dimmer was an easy install. It does require a neutral wire being available in the switch box that you intend to locate it in. A neutral may not be available in certain instances, so you should probably check before deciding on this model. Lutron has other models that will work with no neutral present at the device. The separately-purchased Pico dimmer was very easy to pair with the dimmer. I've attached a pic of it. It looks exactly like, and has the same dimensions as the face of this dimmer, and there's a reason for this. You can purchase a adapter for this Pico remote to wall-mount it, and with a Decora-style plate, it has the exact same appear as the dimmer does on your wall. In places that you'd like to add a 3-way switch, but for whatever reasons is not really feasible by doing it the standard way, like lack of accessibility to fish wires in, one of these Pico remotes can be paired to this dimmer (or any of the other Lutron Caseta switches), then wall-mounted whenever you'd like additional control of the switched item. Multiple Pico remotes can be paired with the same switch/dimmer. It gets better still - with the use of the Lutron Smart Bridge, which links your Caseta devices to your WiFi router, Caseta devices in your home can be controlled from your cellphone via Lutron's free app. This Caseta wireless system will also integrate with Alexa, Apple HomeKit, SmartThings and others, allowing for voice and automated control. The possibilities are almost endless.

This Caseta ELV+ dimmer is for ELV and dimmable LED lights. It is part of a family of wireless devices for your home and is capable of communicating to your smart phone and other devices for a integrated wireless experience. This unit as a stand alone can be used to dim LED's. You can turn your lights on, off, and dim. You can also set a favorite dim position. It also has the ability to change the range of dimming. If your dimmer goes too dim and your LED's start blinking, you can raise the lower limit so they only go to the lowest safe level. I have "my favorite" set at the lowest level so can use the "on" position during the daylight. At night I push the "favorite" button and then rise the level from there if needed. All four wires must be connected for the dimmer to work. Of course there are ways around this if you only have two or three wires available at your switch box. There are diagrams online to aid in this.

You can spend 10s of thousands on home automation but for a fraction of the price you can get most of the same benefits from these ZigBee-based Caseta devices from Lutron. I already own a number of Maestro devices from Lutron that provide LED dimming, motion and occupancy sensing and dimmer memory setting. This Caseta switch, in conjunction with the Pico remote I bought separately, let's me control 6 LED can lights from anywhere on the same floor without buying expensive smart bulbs. In the future I will probably add more Caseta switches and a bridge that will let me control all the attached lights from an iOS or Android App. Just wish there was a control program for Windows on my laptop as well. The programming of the favorite light level and paring with the remote is incredibly easy. To pair the remote you simply hold the wall switch "off" button for 6 seconds until the side light level LEDs flash and then do the same on your Pico remote and the units are paired. This meant I didn't have to look at expensive rewiring to get multi-point control of lights in the terrace level. It is probably worthwhile to plan how to use these switches in a complete home automation system but you certainly don't have to buy and implement everything at once. You can start small and grow your home automation as your budget allows.

I'm using this with home depot LED dimmable light bulbs, and it dims them to around 10%, with absolutely no noise or buzzing throughout any of the range. The low end is adjustable, but I did not have to adjust it since the lowest dim level was above the LED threshold. Aside from the additional load capability, one reason you might choose this switch over the other Caseta in-wall dimmer is the preset dim button, the round button in the middle which will always turn the light to home position that you set. The center button is programmable to a favorite dim level. I also like the ability to always turn on to full brightness even if the dimmer was shut off at a lower dim level. This dimmer has 18 gauge wires coming off the switch which you can connect with your current wiring with a wire nut that have ben supplied with it. It also requires a neutral. It does not have screw terminals on the dimmer itself to connect wiring to like standard light switch.

I've installed a number of Caseta devices in my house, used this light switch in my living room to turn on and off the main lights (LED bulbs in a fan, the fan is on a different power switch). What is nice about this dimmer is its ability to run different types of loads and even combination loads. Have a look at the instructions to insure you are within its limits. One item to note, the install of this switch does require a neutral (usually white), so it took me a few more minutes to install. At any rate, works quickly, smoothly and is very useful. The app is easy to use, and on my iOS device it is linked in with Siri so I can tell Siri to control my lights. You can also setup geo-fencing and use tools like IFTTT to integrate with other electronics you may have (I.e. I have a ring door bell and have it tied in to turn on the lights shortly after a ring). Of note - when 'off' there are 5 or 6 little green LED's that usually indicate the dimming level that stay lit on the switch. I like this for this switch location because its at the front door and can make finding the switch easy if I need to. The little lights are not 'bright' by any means but they are there. Install is simple. Syncing to the application is also very easy. And it just seems to work.

The instructions that came with this dimmer switch were good. It basically hooked up to my current wiring with no problem. Just follow the instructions. The dimmer switch works very good as I used it for my LED light fixture and it dims quite well and is easy to use. It has a very modern looking design, bright white color and as you can see in the pics it shows well.

Caseta Wireless is by far the best option when it comes to connected lighting. I got this particular ELV In-Wall Dimmer to add to the 15+ Caseta switches I’m currently using. ELV is the main selling feature but my hope was that since a neutral wire is required, there would be a greater dimming range with LED bulbs. This switch is the same size as any other Caseta switch. The only difference is the extra wire and the face of the switch that has a favorite button in the middle. I installed this in my dining room in about five minutes. From the Caseta Wireless app (via the Smart Bridge), you have precise control over dimming a switch. You can go from 0 – 100%. With the regular Caseta Wireless dimmer there is no noticeable change between 0 and 10%. That’s using five Philips 60 watt equivalent dimmable Warm Glow LED bulbs in a single lighting fixture. With this ELV dimmer I noticed no difference over the regular switch. It should be noted that Lutron did not state this switch would improve LED dimming; that was more of my hope and assumption. With no greater dimming capability, the main advantage for using this switch (at least for me) is the favorite button. The regular switch has four buttons all of which are flush. The favorite button on this switch is raised and gives an easy button to push for someone not familiar with the switch or for someone using the switch without really looking. I have a few Picos remotes mounted as 3-way switches in my house. Using this switch rather than the regular switch will give a more uniform look since this switch in essence is like a hardwired Pico remote. The one catch is that this ELV switch cost considerably more. Despite the cost, when it comes to all my home automation products, Caseta Wireless is without a doubt the best in terms of reliability, features, and compatibility.

The first step for installing the Caseta hardwired dimmer is to make certain the existing switch has the proper wires in the switch box: HOT, NEUTRAL & GROUND. All 3 are needed for the Caseta to work. Some switch boxes only have the HOT or HOT and NEUTRAL passing through. Also, it will not operate for 3-way switch applications (more than one switch that operates the light). Lutron mentions at least a 10 watt load on the NEUTRAL - I did not have this issue, my total load well exceeded this. The included paper instructions are clear and easy to follow. We used the Caseta to replace a toggle switch that operated the light set on the ceiling fan in our bedroom. Because it is a ceiling fan and a duplex box - only the HOT wire was on the light switch side requiring me to tap into the NEUTRAL and GROUND on the fan side of the duplex. Once wired up, the rest of the setup was a breeze. It's great to dim the lights down versus ON/OFF. We also have the Pico remote for another Caseta device in our home and the Caseta Smart Bridge which both will work with this hardwired dimmer, however, we haven't had the need to set them up for this room. It's great knowing that I can easily "network" this switch if I so desire to in the future. It's worth mentioning that the Caseta has a "hard switch" (FASS switch) to disconnect the Caseta so that you can safely change the light bulb.

The LED lights stay on faintly even when the switch is set to off.