Looking for instructions for Red Series On/Off + always on power to smart bulbs

Switches General Discussion
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#28

I have an Inovelli Red Series switch in a 3-way configuration with a GE aux Add-On switch hooked up. I would like to have the smart bulbs that the switches are connected to powered 24/7, but still allow both the Inovelli and the GE Add-On control the bulbs. I have “Disabled local control” via the SmartThings app, and associated Button 1 Press/Hold with On/Off for scene control of my bulbs.

However, my GE aux switch is unable to send commands to the bulbs when local control is disabled. My interpretation of the Red Series capabilities was that the Inovelli could tell when the GE Add-On is pressed, and then could activate a scene to turn on smart bulbs. Is this incorrect? Is there no way that the GE Add-On can send signals to the Inovelli to turn on smart bulbs if local control is disabled?

Additional info: My wiring setup is like this: https://desk.zoho.com/DocsDisplay?zgId=691830694&mode=inline&blockId=k4wwh437a820318ff497da86f135e3829acb6

#29

Very interested to see this answer because I am literally in the middle of setting up a 4-way configuration with the exact same setup. I had the expectation that the 2 auxiliary GE switches could be made into scene controllers for the Philips Hue bulbs.

#30

If you get it to work, please let me know.

#31

The only way I was able to get a smart bulb to work in a three way is with a zwave bulb (ilumin) using association. I can use the aux to turn on/off or dim.

There is a feature request open to enable scenes at the aux switch which would allow other smart bulbs to work on aux switch (ie hue) but I have not seen any updates on this. I would be very interested in it as well.

Two other options which I see coming up on inovelli roadmap… The BFF zwave remote which could replace the aux switch or could wait for the zigbee version of the switch which should be able to talk to hue bulbs directly. And I assume the aux can as well?

#32

I spent my day screwing with this and I am coming away frustrated. I have not been able to get this to work and I don’t expect it will work with the existing firmware.

My setup for this circuit is based around the LZW31-SN Red Series dimmer. It’s a 4-way with line/load in the same box, which contains the dimmer. On the circuit I have two auxiliary switches specifically from the supported aux switches list. I have one GE Enbrighten Add-On #12723 in the middle position and one GE Enbrighten Add-On #46199 in the terminal position. All of the switches set up exactly as represented in the provided wiring diagram.

I have updated all relevant device handlers to the newest versions, notably including the 2020-05-06 version of the LZW31-SN handler, which includes the relevant feature update “2020-05-01: Correctly distinguish between digital and physical on / off.”

The load on the circuit is a single fixture containing 5 Philips Hue bulbs which I want to have constant power.

I have created the suggested SmartApps to allow for the dimmer to be used as a scene controller by following the instructions for “Setup #2: Switch to Bulb via Z-Wave Central Scene Control” from the Smart Bulb How To:

The “Switch Type” setting is set to “3-way Momentary”, which per my understanding is the correct setting for a circuit containing the auxiliary switches.

My expectation from reading the developer comments and threads in this community was that, once I set the “Disable Local Control” setting on the switch to “Yes”, a button press on either the dimmer or either of the auxiliary switches would trigger my SmartApps to control the Hue bulbs. This has not been the case.

When “Disable Local Control” is set to “No”, everything works as you would expect. All three switches can be used to turn the fixture on and off. SmartThings works as well. I assume my SmartApps are also being triggered, but the effects cannot be observed because the whole fixture turns on and off.

When “Disable Local Control” is set to “Yes”, the dimmer buttons themselves work as intended. They do not modify power supply to the fixture as the relay is successfully disabled and instead the SmartApps are diligently executed, causing the Hue bulbs to turn themselves on or off. However, the auxiliary switches do nothing. Button presses have no effect.

I expect a firmware update in the switches is required to make an auxiliary button press function in an identical fashion to a button press on the dimmer itself. @EricM_Inovelli, can you confirm or tell me if there is something I have missed here?

Thanks, and sorry to bear disappointing news. The good news is maybe this can be fixed with software, and without digging into the walls again. Trying to stay optimistic on that front.

#33

Good evening @datavortex – sorry for the frustration here :frowning:

The dimmer and aux switch should work if you have an ilumin bulb paired as @rbf suggested above via Z-Wave Association.

However, since you’re using a Hue bulb, as you correctly setup, you’ll have to use scene control. The unfortunate thing about this is that the auxiliary switches will not provide scene control (ie: double/triple tap, etc) as noted in the following threads:

I do, however, see the miscommunication in the KB Article and I will clarify it to prevent further frustration. That article was written for a single-pole setups, but I will go back to clarify this in the KB Article.

The good news is that we are about to submit a request to the manufacturer for the alternate version of firmware that hopefully they can figure out the multi-tap (scene) control from the aux switch. More to come here – we’re just trying to get the normal dimmer firmware completed.

Sorry again for the frustration.

1 Like
3-Way Red Dimmer with Aux to control Hue Lights (Smart Bulb Mode)
#34

Thanks @Eric_Inovelli for the followup and the additional details.

Still deciding what to do here but probably will have to replace the aux switches with Red Series switches. Otherwise I will just wait for firmware updates and hope. Have a good evening.

#35

Just to be clear, cause there is lots of talk about double an triple taps on the aux switches, it is currently not possible to have a GE Aux switch, connected to a red series on/off with local relay disabled, in a 3/4 way configuration, tell the red switch the button was toggled and have the red switch trigger whatever scene is associated to a single button press, right? I figure this is the case since 1 or 4 taps are all scenes, but just wanted to check. I’m also trying to allow the end user to use the aux switch to turn off/on the smart lights when local relay is disabled. Since all the aux switches seem to do is bypass the 3/4 way, it would be cheaper to just bypass them via a rewire.

Are you able to use multiple red series switches, as @datavortex mentioned, in a 3/4 way configuration and make those other red switches fill the gap? If so, how?

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#36

This is correct – an aux switch CANNOT send the scene command to the smart switch (or the smart switch cannot detect multiple presses of the aux switch, however you’d like to word it). We are working on firmware to see if we can fix this, but as of today (May 22, 2020), this is not possible.

This is possible if you use Z-Wave bulbs and I have this at my house with our Ilumin bulbs. How I set it up is that the aux switches can dim and turn the bulbs on/off (if connected to a smart dimmer) and then I’ll use the Red Series Dimmer to change the colors (via double/triple tap).

Yes, for sure :slight_smile:

Here’s a couple of KB Articles we wrote up for ya:

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image1442×1012 183 KB

Hope this helps!

#37

Any news on whether this update is in the pipeline?

#38

Checking in on this possible firmware… have a GE Add-on connected to a Red Switch with local control off for LIFX bulbs, and don’t want to go back to wonky wiring and status mirroring…

#39

Hey guys – sorry, this thread got away from me. As far as I know we’ve presented the alternate firmware to the manufacturer that solves a few outstanding issues. I think he was rushing so that we could get as much as we could in before production (which was a couple weeks ago) so I’m not sure where the status is.

Tagging @EricM_Inovelli to confirm.

#40

For my part I just replaced my aux switches with LZW31-SN. A bit more than I wanted to spend but the extra notification bars are handy.

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#41

Any idea if this would be customer flushable firmware or require a new hardware revision? Just trying to decide how to proceed in the meantime.

Thanks for the response on this! New to Inovelli products but so far love the 3 switches I’ve replaced with red series!!!

#42

Can we get access to this alternate firmware? I’d love to be able to control the lights from the GE Add-on switch.

#43

Hey @Derek, we have not developed this yet, but when we do, we’ll definitely release it to the public. There’s only one guy working on projects for us (Z-Wave firmware developers are very nice ppl) and he is currently working on our Lightstrip.

#44

Hey Eric, any chance we can ever expect a firmware update on this? I installed the Inovelli switch 10 months ago, and still can’t use the aux switch to turn on/off lights. Not a great experience.

#45

Sorry maybe the caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet, what lights can you not turn off from the aux switch?

Edit: nm, saw your Reddit comment.

@EricM_Inovelli - where are we at on this? Turning a non-Z-Wave smart bulb off from an aux switch.

#46

This is one of the priority issues with the manufacturer to fix before mass production.

#47

Hey @EricM_Inovelli - It’s been a couple of months… Just wanted to get the status of the new driver update that enables a GE aux switch to power On/Off a smart Zigbee bulb. Has any progress been made on this feature? Thanks!