That is until they start to flicker.
SFI* from SAL National fixes this flickering issue.
*SAL Flicker Immunity
SFI or SAL Flicker Immunity fixes this flicker issue once and for all.
There are 3 simple steps to deploy this new SFI solution from SAL National to eliminate LED downlight flickering once and for all.
- Replace the current downlights with a choice of SAL compatible downlights depending on your application.
- Replace the dimmer with a SAL SFI Dimmer SDD400SFI
- Re-energise and let the system self calibrate.
The good news is that SFI dimmer is a standard 2-wire, push button phase dimmer that fits in to a huge range of Australian wall plates making this simple swap out easy for electricians.
It only operates with selected down lights from SAL as per the list below and this specific dimmer.
Why do my LED downlights flicker?
Fixing flickering LED downlights starts with understanding why they are flickering, and if you live in NSW or South East Queensland SFI is likely to be the easiest way to fix.
Flickering LED downlights in NSW or SE Queensland, that always occurs at the same time of day or night, every day, are related to off-peak hot water systems and a tone which is injected into the electricity supply by operators.
This tone signals hot water systems to switch over to off peak and start heating the tanks. Even if you don’t have an electrical hot water system, your home receives this signal and that is what is causing the flickering.
There are other reasons besides these injected tones for flickering LED downlights, but these are beyond the scope of this article - see the end of this article for more information about that.
Why do I have to swap everything?
SFI is a system of components which operate together to eliminate LED downlight flickering once and for all.
It’s this controlled environment which provides this guarantee of no flicker.
To look at that another way, it’s the uncontrolled environment of downlights and dimmers from one or more manufacturers that makes solving this problem challenging.
Therefore, creating a system which is designed to operate as one, with the purpose of eliminating LED downlight flickering is the sure-fire way to solve flickering.
An extra benefit of this SFI upgrade is super smooth, super low dimming capabilities and no flickering at any levels at any time of day or night.
2 way and 3 way Control with no Flicker
As the SDD400SFI dimmer works with PIXIE, this means that 2 way / multiway control is easily achieved using either the PIXIE S2WBTAS ( Multiway switch ) or the PIXIe Multifunction controller (SMFBTAS).
Once installed all other PIXIE features operate as normal.
If you live in other parts of Australia read this article which has more details on how to fix other issues related to flickering LED downlights.
What do you buy and where do you buy it?
The SFI products are available from September 2021 in all electrical wholesalers in across Australia.
You need to buy:
- The Dimmer - SDD400SFI - 1 for each dimmable circuit.
- Select which downlight type you need - and then buy the quantity of down lights needed for the flickering circuit.
All down lights on the circuit must be replaced.
Choose from these 2 down lights:
ECOGEM 10W – S9041TC/WH/SFI
- – TRI COLOUR 10W / 850/1000/900 Lumen LED Down light with remote driver
- – Easy selectable colour temperature with an inbuilt DIP switch, 3000K/4200K/5700K
- – 92mm cutout with Durable die-cast aluminium body profile
UNIFIT S9053WP/SFI
- – 9w 700Lumen LED downlight
- – Changeable multi-reflector system, standard beam distribution 60 degree, optional 25 and 40 degree
- – ACCESSORIES – S9053HC/P Honey comb, S9053DF/P Centre frost diffuser, S9053BF/P Buffer
