lzw30-SN 3-Way setup not working (parameters needed?)

Sharing my experience here in case it might help someone…

I spent 1/2 a day trying to figure out why my aux switch and then dumb 3-way switch were both having issues with the LZW30. With the aux switch I was experiencing the aux turning on the LZW30, but not off. With the dumb 3-way I was experiencing the LZW30 turning back on after physically turning it off (at the LZW30). Same issue through the hub (off resulted in the LZW30 turning back on within a second). I upgraded to firmware to 2.20. No improvement. I set parameter 13 (Load Type) to Special Load (T8). No improvement.

Then… I decided after reading numerous threads of people experiencing the same issue and responses that the LZW30 is supposed to auto-detect a 3-way circuit, that I would try replacing one of the 3 LED bulbs on the circuit with an incandescent. Bingo! the 3-way circuit worked. Problem identified… the LZW30 needs a load greater than what the LED bulbs were creating in order for the LZW30 3-way auto-detect to work. Since I’m not going to live with a mix of LED and incandescent bulbs, I’ve installed a load resistor (similar to what is needed for some older dimmers after swapping to LED bulbs). I use the Aeotec version, but there are others out there. Google “Aeotec bypass for nano dimmer”.

The resistor connects “across (or in parallel)” with the light (or outlet - if that is what you’re controlling) itself, thus creating constant resistance on the load (which is what an incandescent bulb would do). You can wire the resistor at the LZW30 itself by connecting one of the resistor’s leads to the Neutral connector, and the other resistor lead to the Load connector (along with the wires needed for the circuit - as seen in the Inovelli documentation).

I’d like to see a firmware update which forces the 3-way config (doing away with auto-detect). I’m not really enjoying dropping $15 on a load resistor to solve the problem.

Hope this helps others. Cheers!