Hello,
I just installed my first Inovelli switch and I’m having all sorts of issues; nothing is working as I had hoped. I’ve made various attempts to troubleshoot the issues but I’ve given up for the night.
Specs:
White series dimmer
Single pole
No neutral wire
HomeKit
Nanoleaf Smart Bulb
Goal: use the switch in smart bulb mode to turn the Nanoleaf bulb on and off.
Initial set up resulted in the designated smart bulb becoming non-responsive in the Home app, shortly followed by the switch itself becoming non-responsive. Everything was un-paired and re-paired.
Various times I’ve reset the bulb to factory default and tried to initiate smart bulb mode, but still unable to achieve the desired goal.
At one point, in smart bulb mode, when I hit the bottom paddle switch to “turn the light off” it merely dimmed it, and when I hit the top paddle it came back to 100%; but I was never able to turn it off. Eventually everything became non-responsive again.
Also, a lot of the time the intensity of the light wavers. Only at one point did it seem strong and consistent.
I have four more Inovelli switches ready to install, but this first one proving mildly nightmarish so far and I hope the issue is me and not the switch.
You are going in the right direction turning on the Smart Bulb Mode. From what you are describing, however, it doesn’t look like you have the SBM turned on. When the SBM is on, the switch should put out full power and pressing the paddle won’t have any effect on it. In other words, if the SBM is on, you can press the paddle and it won’t turn the light on or off (or dim it). (You will have to use an automation to control the light with the SBM turned on.)
Enable Smart Bulb Mode
To enable Smart Bulb Mode on your White Series 2-1 Switch, hold down on the top part of the paddle (on) while simultaneously tapping the configuration button four (4) times (do not let go of the paddle when finished tapping the config button). Wait for the LED Bar to flash solid yellow (and then let go of the paddle) indicating the switch has enabled Smart Bulb Mode.
There is a video here:
Smart Bulbs/SBM/No neutral can be finicky. You may need a bypass at the bulb to get sufficient power to the switch.
Sorry I wasn’t more detailed in my original post, but I enabled SBM and the LED on the switch flashed the proper colors indicating it was successful. I had also followed the instructions on how to program the paddle with automations in the Home App so when the top paddle is pressed the light should turn on 100%, and when the bottom paddle is pressed it should drop to 0%. Doing so resulted in the unexpected situations detailed in my original post.
I re-paired the switch with Apple Home this morning, enabled SBM, and set up the single click “Button 1” automation and single click “Button 2” automation in the app to 100% and 0% respectively. The light signal is strong and consistent this morning, but nothing happens when I press the paddle buttons after setting up their automations. Even in the Home app, when I click to test the automation nothing happens.
It’s weird that I’m getting different results every time I try this.
@Bry as of this morning it does seem to be a HomeKit thing. Last night I would have pointed towards the switch. Hopefully a HomeKit user pops up who can advise.
I understand the no neutral wire may be playing a role here, and I’m admittedly not very knowledgeable about that stuff. If it helps, the Nanoleaf bulbs I’m using have the following power specs (my current situation is using the BR30 bulb):
I’d make sure the switch is staying fully powered. Watch for it rebooting. When it does that, you’ll see the LED bar flash a couple colors (can’t remember which for the white).
Also, when the switch is properly powered, you should be able to press the paddle and see the LED bar react. It will go up and down as if it’s working a dimmer, even though it won’t affect the wired load since it’s in the SBM. If it doesn’t react or it reboots while doing that, then you’ll need a bypass as the switch isn’t getting sufficient power.
If it initially pairs to Homekit but then seems to drop, it could be a signal strength issue. There is a firmware update that is presently being tested that will up the transmission power. That is not available as of yet. However, in the interim, take a look at your signal strength.
@Bry I just re-paired the switch again with Apple Home app. In the factory default setting, which I believe is single pole on/off mode, the LED light is a solid blue. When I click the bottom paddle, the LED light turns (mostly) off, and when I hit the top paddle it turns back to solid blue. Obviously nothing happens at the light itself.
When I hold down the config button to check the Thread strength, it is green indicating good.
I just enabled SBM again.
I set up the button 1 automation to turn the light on. The light was already on when I did this so the “Test This Action” in the Home app doesn’t really do anything.
I set up the button 2 automation to turn the light off. This time, unlike before, when I pressed “Test This Action” in the Home app it actually turned the light off! Progress!
I set up the button 3 automation (config button) to turn the light to 50%. When I pressed “Test This Action” in the Home app the light went on the fritz and started cycling through various shades of white. Eventually, it either stopped on its own or something I pressed in the Home app stopped it.
The light is now 100% white, but no paddle buttons affect it and also the “Test This Action” in the Home app stopped having any affect on the light. I anticipate in a few minutes both the switch and the bulb will once again be labeled as non-responsive in the Home app and I’ll have to delete them and re-pair them with the system.
I assume at this point I should consider submitting a ticket to Inovelli’s support staff.
Hello, thanks for responding, sorry for my late reply.
I’m on Homekit and using a HomePod mini for the hub.
I was assuming. Button 1 was the top paddle, button 2 the bottom, and button 3 the config.
I have since bought an Aeotec Bypass with the intention of installing it on the bulb itself, but just found out the wiring to the bulb is highly inaccessible. I’m wondering if I can install the bypass on the switch itself?
Since you have a non-neutral, no. The bypass must go in parallel to the bulb. That means across the hot and neutral to the bulb. With a non-neutral, the neutral is only at the fixture.
Thank you for responding, but as noted in my initial posts the problem isn’t the paddles aren’t coordinating with the assumed “button” options in my HomeKit app. If that were the issue this would be an easy fix.
I noticed you mentioned non-neutral set up. Not familiar with it but you may check to see if you need the bypass module thing they sell. It’s designed for non-neutral setups but not sure if it applies to smart bulb mode, but I’m pretty sure it is from what I’ve skimmed while scrolling about.
Also how many thread devices do you have? What’s your hub? How far is it?
Running 2 devices that aren’t close to the hub will probably result in unresponsiveness. Thread still seems a bit finicky with only a few devices. Once I had 10+ potential routers my network became really fast
Again not sure of the exact issue you’re having but hope any of that helps.