I installed my new Innovelli LZW31 dimmer yesterday. I am really impressed with the build quality, feature set, documentation and configurability of the unit. One feature that gets less recognition really impressed me.
I an an amateur radio operator and have some equipment that is extremely sensitive to Very Low Frequency (VLF) radiation, like that typically generated by dimmer switches and other non-linear power loads. The interference is typically inductively or electrically radiated from the house wiring at a 120Hz rate (and harmonics) and plays havoc with some of my receivers. I spent quite a bit of effort adding chokes and othe suppression devices to variable speed furnace motors and other devices.
I have a Leviton smart dimmer (DZMX1) that is the worst device I have ever experienced in terms of 120Hz interference. I had to use special software filters in one device to "noise blank" the crap from this one device.
The Innovelli dimmer, on the other hand, is whisper-quiet in the RF interference department. Amazing, but there is no detectable interference at all, at any dimmer level..
In this age of Internet radio, low interference with radio receivers is probably not high on anyone's list of features. Kudos to Inovelli for getting this right.
I think I'll try to find the FCC acceptance testing results for the dimmer.
Best,
Don
