I’ve never done home automation before and plan to start with some Red Series Dimmer switches. From reading about them, I have several questions. I’m not an electrician, so I’m trying to make sure I’m prepared before I get someone out to install them.
The dimmer switches say they don’t require a neutral wire, but mention the possible need for a bypess under light loads. What does that mean? If the dimmer switch is controlling a couple LED lights, won’t the load always be small? My house is new construction, I assume this means it has no neutral wire, but I don’t know if I should get some bypesses just in case? Is there any way to know in advance if you’ll actually need one?
There are a number of rooms that currently have two switches, one on either side of the room, which can be used to turn lights on/off. My understanding is that the Red Series dimmer switch handles this scenario just fine. Does it require software configuration to work? Do the two switches need to sync up in some way? Or is it automatic based on the physical wiring?
Are the paddles on the switch of a standard shape, as far as buying face plates to cover them? Or do I need to get something specific? Right now my house has the little stick-lever switches.
The appeal is of course to control the switches over Z-Wave. But am I correct in assuming they still work offline? For example, if the power in the house blinked and the hub or wireless network went down, I assume the switches still act as dumb light switches? Does each switch remember it’s dimming configuration through power loss?
I know it’s unsafe to connect a dimmer switch to a non-dimmable LED bulb, but what about the other way around? I’m wondering if I can streamline the installation process if I already have dimmable LED bulbs installed (they are in recessed fixtures in the ceiling), connected to the original non-dimmer switches.
The product page talks about Over-The-Air updates. How is that possible without an internet connection? Are updates a manual process that I initiate from the hub? Are there risks involved in updating the software for something like this (where bugs affect home operation)?
I plan to use Home Assistant, which (from my understanding) has Z-Wave support built-in. However I’ve also read that it has a “Z-Wave JS” driver, which has more features. I’ve also read on this forum and on reddit where people have issues keeping their dimmer switches working with the JS driver. Is the fault with the JS driver itself? Can these dimmer switches be fully used with Home Assistant’s built-in driver, or is JS required to take full advantage of it? Is there a more stable alternative?
Apologies for the list, any help would be appreciated!
If you’re in the US all new construction should have neutrals in the switch boxes per code
That is called a 3-way. You can use a dimmer and a dumb on/off, dimmer and an aux switch, or two dimmers (this is an advanced configuration but easy to do via associations). All configurations will require you set parameters on the dimmer or via the hub.
The dimmers are the standard “decora” or rectangle cut out.
They work fine offline. You will not able to be able to trigger scenes (ie tap 2x UP to turn dim to 50%. Dimming will still work by holding the paddle.) Associations will also work offline.
Switch connected to a dimmable bulb is fine. There is a bulb compatibility document. I’ll find the link.
The product page talks about Over-The-Air updates. How is that possible without an internet connection? Are updates a manual process that I initiate from the hub? Are there risks involved in updating the software for something like this (where bugs affect home operation)?
The process varies by hub. For example in home assistant I download a firmware update to my phone. Open the HA app go to zwavejs2mqtt find the dimmer and upload the firmware.
There are several of us on the forum that use zwavejs2mqtt. I don’t have any issues. Is there a particular issue you’re worried about?
If your house is new construction then you will likely have neutrals, as they are required in recent versions of the NEC (if you are in the US). It’s not likely you will need bypasses if that is the case.
The dimmers/switches will work in a 3-way and more (i.e 2, 3 or x switches on the same legs). They do have to be programmed for multi-ways. While that is possible at the switch it’s easier using a home automation hub. The switches work together via the connected wiring. There is a more advanced way for unusual situations, but if you are new you’ll stay away from those, plus with new construction, that likely won’t be needed.
The paddles are standard in shape. The switches come with single plates, or you can purchase multi-plates at a big box store.
The switches will still work properly i.e. as dumb switches (for those conventionally wired).
Yes, you can use a dumb switch to on/off a dimmable bulb.
Zwave isn’t presently capable of a OTA update in the traditional sense. The Zwave switches can be updated via several methods either using your hub or a separate software program/wireless device. Not sure about the coming soon Zigbee switches.
One of the HA folks can answer that. That would not be me, lol.
I will add that depending on the type of light may drive you to install a bypass regardless if you have a neutral or not. Some of us had to install a bypass to shut the bulbs off completely, but I only had to install one out of 18 dimmers.
It depends on what you want. This is called a 3-way configuration.
You can re-use the dumb switch on one location and it’ll be cheap to do because you already have it but it won’t look the same or be able to dim the lights.
An Aux Switch which can both turn on/off and dim the lights and it doesn’t cost as much as another Red dimmer but it does not have the LED bar to indicate the level.
A Red dimmer can be used in both locations and then they are setup to match each other via zwave. This gives a LED bar that matches in both locations so they look the same. I bought some Black dimmers when they were on the discontinuation sale and have used a couple as the 2nd dimmer in a 3-way. I tried an Aux switch and didn’t like the missing LED bar.
HA had an old zwave integration built in. I think it’s been removed and is not even available in new versions. There was also the openzwave version that was started then stalled. The new version is zwaveJS and that’s the only way I would recommend. It’s 2 parts. There is a zwaveJS server you have to run and then there is a zwaveJS integration you install into HA which talks to the server and provides the control.
Actually, there are 2 different zwaveJS servers that can be used. One is zwaveJS and the other is zwaveJS2MQTT. I would recommend the MQTT one and use it by turning off the MQTT part. I stop HA and pair the device using the zwaveJS2MQTT interface. Then, I name the device. Once that is done, when re-starting HA the new device with the name gets copied to HA.
The reason I stop HA is that zwaveJS2MQTT initially assigns a default name when the device is added. If HA is running that name goes to HA as the entity name. Then when you re-name only the “friendly” name gets changed in HA. When you get into HA you’ll find out what I mean with each entity having 2 names. As an example, a dimmer could have an entity name of “light.lzw_31_353534DdGA” with a friendly name of “Living Room” if HA stays running. If you rename with HA off, the names could be light.living_room and “Living Room”.
Also, by doing all the naming in zwaveJS2MQTT you can delete the integration in HA and re-install it and the names all come back. I’ve had HA acting funny and did that and it was completely painless. Only took a minute. If I had renamed the entities in HA then I’d have to re-do the naming all again. If you leave HA running and notice a stupid entity name on a new device you just added, you can also just delete and re-install the integration to fix that too. Something I’ve also done.
Sounds like I should get a bypass just to have on hand, just in case. Everything else sounds like it will be pretty straight-forward, I’m excited.
That is called a 3-way. You can use a dimmer and a dumb on/off, dimmer and an aux switch, or two dimmers (this is an advanced configuration but easy to do via associations). All configurations will require you set parameters on the dimmer or via the hub.
@stu1811 So you’re saying that, for any given light, I can use a single Red Series dimmer, and one or more Red Series on/off switches, and get the same result (in terms of the on/off switch maintaining configured brightness, etc.)?
If I were to use two dimmer switches, would the electrician have trouble knowing whether the switches are working properly, before I get to the software configuration part?
There are several of us on the forum that use zwavejs2mqtt. I don’t have any issues. Is there a particular issue you’re worried about?
@stu1811 I’ve seen mention of little things, like switches not responding or appearing disconnected in Home Assistant. In each case, the “work around” was to restart the server (HA or Z-Wave JS). I have no idea whether they used the “mqtt” version, sounds like that one is the best option regardless, at this point.
One of the HA folks can answer that. That would not be me, lol.
@Bry Out of curiosity, what do you use? Home Assistant is just the one I’ve heard most good things about.
I guess you could, but I was referring to a dumb switch and a Red dimmer. If you do 2x Reds I’d do 2x Red Dimmers or 2x Red Switches. The dimmers have much bigger LED bars.
Strange. Maybe they don’t have a enough devices/good mesh? 28 of my 41 zwave devices are wired, which means they are repeaters, and I don’t have any issues with nodes dropping out. My house is a colonial about ~2800 sq ft. I have devices in basement, 1fl, 2fl, and attic.
I don’t use the mqtt part of zwavejs2mqtt. The zwave-js integation connnects to the zwavejs2mqtt websocket (ws) server.
I’m on SmartThings. For me it works well and is constantly improving.
I’d encourage you to compare. The main ones to consider IMO are SmartThings, Hubitat and Home Assistant. They all have pluses and minuses. Home Assistant is the most capable in the number of “things” that can be added to it, but it is the most technically complex. So factor your level of technical ability into your decision.
