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Dimmer Switch (Red Series) | Project Lights Out (v2.0)

Suggestions & Wishlist
#7

My suggestions:

  1. Fix the red series dimmer to be able to work with LIFX+ bulbs. Currently we cannot shut off the LIFX+ bulbs (using the LIFX app) because the dimmer is somehow triggering them to turn back on every time. It’s not very user friendly to have a switch with “smart bulb mode” when it doesn’t work with smart bulbs.

  2. Create a parameter to disable the internal relay for remote control from the “hub” (already can disable it from the switch itself).

  3. When the internal relay is disabled, we would like the dimming level (and the LED on the switch) to still function normally. We want these dimming levels to change in the hub with instant status so we can program the dimmer level to control our smart bulb level.

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#8

I plan to install one of these with the relay disabled, but haven’t yet. I’m curious what you mean by this, can you elaborate? What about dimming doesn’t work the same way (but via the hub) when the internal relay is disabled?

#9

@NeighborGeek
When the relay is disabled, the LED on the dimmer shows full ON (Dim 100%) and cannot be changed. The dimmer is basically “stuck” in full ON mode. The buttons on the dimmer will only send scene control statuses (1 tap, 2 tap, etc), they will not change/send dimming updates.

When controlled from the hub, the dimmer relay will still function (still powers off the bulbs). The dimmer control will also still function from the hub, potentially damaging your smart bulbs if you accidentally change the dimmer level. I have not found a way to disable remote control functions (from the hub), at least not with my Homeseer system.

#10

@Eric_Inovelli - Possible bug identification: Dimmer shipping with parameters 21 and 22 not actually set to the defaults documentation claims they are.

Evidence:
My struggles with the random turn off issue being solved by setting the parameters OFF of default settings, and then TO desired settings.

Specific sequence I believe fixed the random off issue.

Initial positive results from another customer.

Aux switch not behaving correctly possibly solved using the same fix.

Edit: Also solved my own Aux Switch misbehavior issue

Keeping an eye out for new threads about the issue to continue to test the fix, but you all could reach out to those in the data collection thread to get a decent sized testing group right away.

I suspect the manufacturer would be interested in the “weird behavior” section of the first post I linked, as it may help them figure out what exactly is going wrong. DM me if you need clarifications of the weird behavior.

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#11

Yes to these! I want to use the dimmer to dim my smart bulbs, but not getting the results I had hoped for. Currently my dimmer is effectively working as a on/off. Would love to still be able to virtually dim and see that reflected on the LED.

#12

More indications that affect reliability

Wiring up a LZW31-SN in a weak-signal environment, the LED shows GREEN indicating that there is sufficient signal, but that seem sot be overly optimistic; the network (Zwave2MQTT-2.0.6 + Aeotec USB) shows some high error-rate, effectively marking the switch as dead.

I would prefer two indications:

  • SIGNAL: Signal is not just raw power, but fidelity on that link (spot the network guy here)

    • Is it possible to give the GREEN signal-OK indication to use a correlating portion of the LED bar, like how dim-level is probably shown, to show borderline signal cases? Currently it implies “you have zero signal” or “you have 100% awesome signal”, but really, I have so-so signal, and would benefit from a repeating network node somewhere between the closest hop and the LZW31-SN. Or maybe would. Who knows?
    • BER being a part of signal, is it possible to shade the part of the LED slider that would be unlit for “so-so signal” with RED indicating the number of bogus/error/bad/corrupt packets received?

  • Load current: you need ~25W load to get the proper current; how about some indication of what the current might be, or some way to see that Yes, the LZW31 has power to run, but the current is out of bounds due to load being too low?

My situation is not unusual, I don’t think: edge of the network, good signal, but errors on it, and the Load is close to 25W, and LZW31 powers up, but acts strangely, doesn’t show a non-neutral config (item number 47 or so in the sequential list :slight_smile: ) and may have other problems, but I can’t see inside the opaque box.

In any case, signal about the possible causes of failure is helpful so that we’re not debugging by smell, optimism, and lucky dice :slight_smile:

#13

More to my comment on looking for signal behind failures or unknown, the LED bar is probably a series of small LED segments, right? That seems like a way to get indications to of the LZW31: 8 bit error code? 12 bit? Even thinking monochrome on/off, that gives some indication of “dude. what’s wrong?” and the LZW31 can tell you.

Printing tick-marks on the side of the Wiring insert to match the position of LEDs can help us accurately read the on/off bit positions more clearly. Colors (modulo the colour-blind among us) expand the options.

Really difficult trying to count “that’s one yellow flash – is 1/2 second long, or short? – a longish pause, maybe a short flash… the same sequence now repeating or a second part of the current flash drum-beat? is that blue, or cyan, or aqua? marigold yellow, not sunrise yellow? :)”

I know I may sound like a Debbie downer here, and I am a huge proponent of your products and the ease of install (real fan of the air-gap in LZW31 so I can try, yet again, to enter the 12 taps on the config button) but it’s a way of not necessarily complaining but suggesting a software fix to expand to reduce that which frustrates me. I read that you can OTA firmware – another game-changer – I’d love to get more of towards failure-debugging.

An oddity: if you consider that you need different things when installing versus steady-state running, you could actually swap out install-diagnostic with post-install runtime features once the switch is installed, happy, despite I know that’s a bit of a logistical burden.

#14

This is definitely needed. I just installed 9 switches in my home and am very disappointed this feature was not included. Since most of the switches control outlets I have many smart bulbs to control with these switches . I had the exact same functionality with smartthings buttons as I do with these switches at half the cost. I have rewired the outlets I can and run those switches without a load to get the functionality that I need. Honestly thinking of returning the switches that I cant rewire.

#15

Just wanted to let everyone know that we’re submitting a large list to the manufacturer in the next couple of days and we’re starting the process of updating some of these. Some may have to move to V3.0 based on the size of the Z-Wave chip and the memory we’ve already used. But we’ll for sure keep everyone posted on the status!

Shoutout to @EricM_Inovelli for compiling this list and to all of you for helping us with bugs and enhancements.

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#16

By “V3.0” do you mean Gen 3 switches? or v3.0 firmware

#17

@Eric_Inovelli @EricM_Inovelli Some of the requests from the On/Off switch thread apply to the dimmer as well. Are those being taken into account here too? Specifically, looking for my personal favorite: Instant On/Off.

#18

Yes, that request is being addressed. Any updates that can be applied to both devices will be.

#20

How about adding parameters to allow for a different on ramp rate vs off ramp rate? I’d love for some of my dimmers to ramp up very quickly when turning on while fading out more slowly when turned off.

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#21

I’m using Gen 2 dimmers and notifications will not cycle.

If notification 1 is active and notification 2 is triggered and cleared. Notification 1 will not resume.

#22

I’d like to add a request in addition:

A tool to share common notifications/settings among switches. For example, let’s say I wanted a red pulse when the garage door is open. If I want that for every switch in my house, I have to individually set each notification up for each switch.

I’d like a tool or some way of setting every “Notification 3” to red, pulse, 100%, etc.

App could be a SmartApp called “Inovelli Notification Manager” or something.

#23

Here’s a minor one: when you turn on the “Invert Switch” setting, it should invert the direction the LEDS light up when the dimmer ramping is occurring. It looks a little odd to have the LEDS slowing climbing down the switch when you’ve chosen to install the switch upside-down…

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#24

Agree. I just did my first Inovelli/Ilumin smart switch/smart bulb installation and while my WAF has been ok to date this one is pushing her over the edge, because the lights lag the switch so she holds it down until she is happy but the lights continue to dim beyond her preference. I swapped out from ilumin bulbs to standard dumb LED’s and returned the dimmer to normal function until this is made available.

Being able to have the relay disabled (full voltage) and showing controlled dimming level to smart bulbs seems like one of the most basic features of such an installation that is completely Inovelli/Ilumin. I really hope we see an update to this.

#25

@kreene1987 If there’s a lag when controlling the lights from the switch it sounds like you’re using a hub to process the change instead of using direct z-wave association.

The easy fix for this is to wire the line and load together so the bulbs always have power, setup z-wave association and leave the relay enabled. You’ll get near instant response from the bulbs and the LED functions as normal.

Plus, you won’t have to worry about sending a z-wave command to the switch and cutting power to the bulbs since the relay only disables the physical press of the button not a zwave command.

#26

The lag is “perceived” while dimming. On/off are instant, and I have confirmed that z-wave association is in use.

Is hard wiring lighting allowable per NEC? Assuming so, wouldn’t I then lose energy monitoring? Trading one feature for another isn’t necessarily ideal.

Nonetheless, thanks for the recommendation. Might be a better temporary solution but is not a complete answer, considering if a bulb gets messed up or isn’t reporting it’s a breaker flip or light removal. Some of mine are 15+ ft in the air and on shared circuits that reset clocks, etc.

I still believe this should be a basic featureset of the switch OOTB.

#27

Did you do your association in groups 2 and 4? I’m assuming so if you’re using association and it is actually dimming. For me the dimming is as instant as the on/off.

Yes you do lose power reporting but it would improve your WAF rating so I think that’d be a good trade-off. I agree it’s not a complete answer, but until there’s a firmware update ready I think it’s the best option at the moment.

The switches also have an air gap switch on them, so if you need to reset something you don’t have to flip a breaker you can just pull the air gap switch out then push it back in. It’s very convenient. But if you do want to remove the smart bulbs and go back to standard LED, you’d need to pull the switch and move the load wire back up to the load terminal. A bit of a hassle, but should still only take a few minutes to do.

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