Maxxima LED Slide Dimmer Rocker Switch - 3-Way/Single Pole Compatible, 600W Max, LED Compatible Decorative Light Switch for Home & Office - Includes Wall Plate Cover (Black) - Perfect for Bedrooms, Living Rooms & Home Theater Lighting Control

A couple of weeks ago I installed four HyperIkon LED 3000K lamps, each is 19 watts and 1450 lumens, in my rec room 6" canisters. I love a bright room, but let me tell you, when these four lights are all on, it's like you're looking at the sun! It's too much for my eyes. I like the idea of a bright, bright light if I need it, but it would be nice to be able to turn the brightness down for those situations when less light is called for. Thus, I need a dimmer, but which one?"Digital dimmers" don't appeal to me. Adjusting the brightness is not very intuitive, and trimming the low-level dim is not something you can easily commit to memory. "Hold this button down for 4 seconds, when this LED over here flashes, then push the other button over there." Anyone is sure to forget how to do this over time and will need to keep the instructions on file somewhere for future reference. I'm old school and want a simple, intuitive dimmer. If not a rotary control, I prefer that a slider be horizontal (left-to-right) as opposed to vertical (up-down). Up-down is more intuitive (max being up, min being down), but vertical controls are also too easy to inadvertently move when you hit the paddle. By placing the slider under the paddle, it protects the slider's position better, in my opinion.I searched Amazon for such a dimmer and came across these Maxxima dimmers. My first impression was "two for $21? They must be junk!" But after reading the very positive Amazon reviews, I figured I would take a chance and dropped one in my cart.When they arrived, I immediately took to my rec room to install one of these babies to dim down my Hyperikon lights. My first visual impression was that the quality is just fine. The paddle switch feels exactly like a regular paddle switch. The slider has a very nice smooth feel to it, not sloppy loose. Visually, the only sign that this is a dimmer rather than a regular paddle switch is the little slider at the bottom. The package even includes a face plate, saving you the additional $1 for it. Everything you need to install it is here. No need to run to HD to get anything else!My switch box works perfectly with the Maxxima dimmer in that you do not need a white (neutral) wire to make it work, only a bare ground line. My box contains no neutral wire. There is a 2-wire Romex cable that enters the box, black being hot and white-with-a-wrap-of-black-tape being the load (LED lamps in my case). The dimmer uses very flexible, light gauge wire (20 gauge?) which makes pushing the dimmer back into the box a breeze. First, shut off the power, then connect black to black, green to bare (ground), and finally the red UNTAGGED wire to the load wire. That's it. Push the wires and the dimmer in the box, screw it in place, and you're ready to turn the power back on. With the slider all the way to the right (max light), I hit the paddle switch, and again got full light. I listened carefully for any buzzing in either the four lamps or the dimmer. Silence. I then slid the dimmer control to dim the lights. Works perfectly fine, smooth as silk. I can hear no buzzing at all as I adjust the brightness. As advertised, the Maxxima dimmer creates buzz-free dimmable light when mated with my HyperIkon lights.All dimmers require a trimming operation for an LED load. It trims the dimmer's internal circuity so that the minimum slider position corresponds to the LEDs' minimum brightness — go any lower, and the lights extinguish with more room left on the slider. First, slide the dimmer all the way to the left (minimum brightness). The lights all go out. Now turn the little adjustment wheel at the top/right of the dimmer until the lights start going on. At first, only two of my four lamps began to glow. I increased the trimmer further, and then all four lamps were dimly lit. Move the trimmer to add just a bit more light in case the LED characteristics change over time. Turn the light off then back on with the paddle switch to make sure the lamps can turn on at this lowest light setting. If not, then adjust the trimmer for a bit more light. Repeat the off-on test. Once that works, then all you have to do is screw down the face plate, and you're done. It took me no more than 15 minutes to do the job only because I couldn't find my Philips screwdriver right away. Otherwise it would have been 10 minutes.Let me add two more points. First, the dimmer is slim as electronic switches go. It's backside is only 1.26" deep so that it should fit in just about any electrical box out there. The use of thin, flexible wires means that the box won't be loaded with additional thick wires that always make for a more difficult installation.Next point is a very subtle one, and is about the use of "3-way wiring." I've always found this name confusing because 3-way always means "TWO switches controlling a light, not THREE!" Who the heck came up with that name? In my kitchen I have THREE switches controlling the lights, one switch at each of the three points of egress in the room. This is an extension of the "3-way light system," and lends itself to having 3 or more switches that control a group of lights. You start with 3-way switches (SPDT) at the start (where the hot wiring enters) and the end (where the load goes up to the lights). In between, you must use what are called "4-way switches." You can look those up on Amazon. For example, Leviton's 4-way switch is their model number 5604. Note that it has four screws on its sides whereas the 3-way switch has only 3. I suppose this is where the 3-way and 4-way names come from, although electrically the names make no sense.Anyway, to a dimmer wired for 3-way, there is NO difference between a 3-way wiring and a 4-way wiring lighting scheme. There is nothing magical about the 4-way wiring, so this Maxxima dimmer, as well as any other dimmer that supports 3-way switching, will work in a 4-way system, such as my kitchen. Once your dimmer is feeding what it thinks is a 3-way wiring system, it doesn't know what it is connected beyond itself, whether it's a single switch, or ten cascades 4-way switches. It's all invisible to the dimmer. If you're interested in this 4-way wiring scheme, look it up. I'm sure you'll find articles that will explain the operation. Just know that this dimmer will work with it, but only if you put the dimmer at the start of the string, where the hot (black) wire connects.For that matter, if you intend to wire the dimmer in a 3-way system, you MUST connect the dimmer in the switch box that has the hot wire going to it. You can NOT connect the dimmer in the electrical box that feeds the load. It won't work, period! I have read reviews where guys complained that when they wired their dimmer in a 3-way system, it wouldn't work. I know right away how and why it wouldn't work: he put the dimmer in the wrong box. If you don't understand these things, you should not be installing the dimmer in the first place. Get someone who understands electricity to do the job. Nevertheless, he sends it back and complains in these review pages "it didn't work. Junk. No stars." It's his fault, not the dimmer's, but the dimmer rating takes the hit. Sometimes life ain't fair.All of that to say that you are not limited to just another single switch in a 3-way dimmer circuit. Simply strip the second red wire, the one with the paper tag on it saying "use this wire ONLY in a 3-wire system," and you're ready to roll using the two red wires to feed the downstream switch(es). If you find that the switch positions are now out of kilter, where when both switches are down, in the "off" position but the light is now on, then simply swap the two red wires with their box wires. That will fix the issue.Here is the one negative: the white plastic used for the switch does not quite match the standard white used for third party switch covers such as Leviton. It has a slight gray hue to it. If you use the dimmer in a single electrical box, and use the included same-color cover plate, you will never notice this color difference. But if you have to use it in a multiple-outlet box, where you must use someone else's cover plate, then the color difference is obvious. The dimmer color looks different than everything else around it. Know in advance if you will be installing the dimmer in a one switch or multiple-switch box. If the latter, consider someone else's dimmer if color difference will bother you. Come on, Maxxima: change your white color to match the industry-standard outlet white!In summary, THE MAXXIMA DIMMERS ARE DA BOMB! They provide maximum bang for your dimmer buck @ $10.50 each for a very high quality linear dimmer.I give it 5 stars if employed in a single outlet box, but 4 stars if it goes into a multiple-switch box where the white color difference stands out.