New User Question

So I just bought my first Black Series dimmer (LZW31) wanting to look for an alternative to Caseta however I’m having some difficulty with integrating it into Rule Machine. I’ve got the custom drivers installed from github page and updated firmware to 1.45 using the Z-Wave Updater tool. However, when I go into Rule Machine and use the Button Device Trigger to start creating automations, my device is nowhere to be found in the drop down of available devices. Is there something I missed somewhere in the configuration of the switch in the device page?

Hi, For scenes (button devices), you would need a Red Series dimmer/switch.

Could you use a “Switch” (Turns: On/Off) event as a trigger?

EDIT: So yeah after doing some more research it appears the black isn’t capable of button commands. Womp womp for me. I guess I’ll have to wait for the Red series to come back into stock and try that out. In the meantime, I’ve repurposed this switch to another location where I don’t need too much functionality and I’ll toy with it there.

I wasn’t necessarily trying to trigger a scene. I have some Philips Hue bulbs that obviously always need constant power. So the thinking was that I would disable the local control on the switch itself through the device page and use the button presses via Rule Machine to simply turn the lights on and off. Did I make a mistake with the selection of the Black Series and this can’t be done or because it’s a Black Series should I be using Rule Machine as a switch rather than a button device?

See! So you really didn’t make a mistake :wink:

Yes, according to my logs when playing with this, that is what I found out with my black series switch (I don’t have a black series dimmer).

I would “think” disabling the local relay would allow you local control of a smart bulb connected to it (i.e. a double scene for switches or a quad for dimmers). But it appears it only provides a lockout functionality for black series.

Tagging @EricM_Inovelli to see if we’re missing something or if it’s something that could be added to later FW or V2 devices.

@jason.motwani - You May want to try the association tool vs. rule machine with BLK series. I think that will work for what you want.

https://support.inovelli.com/portal/en/kb/articles/what-s-the-difference-between-red-and-black-series

Maybe a dumb question. Can you associate Z-wave devices to Zigbee? I don’t have any zigbee smart bulbs to try this with.

I think it’s only possible with Red series since it’ll go through the hub to allow the “cross talk”.

Is Caseta Zigbee? I thought there was only one type of bulb (Inovelli, shout out what what)

Jk, but I’m not familiar with Caseta.

As it turns out the location I had originally planned was a bunch of lamps that were plugged into a switched outlet (old house). So I actually just went ahead and rewired the outlet so it was always hot just so I could plug other stuff into it if I needed to down the road. From there I simply pigtailed the dimmer off of the hot wire into the line side and left the load lug empty. From there it’s just communicating with the hub and not controlling any devices directly. As a result, I’ve actually had to re-enable the local switch relay because as you stated, it essentially just locked me out.

Caseta is a line of switches, not sure if they make a bulb or not. It’s neither Zigbee nor Z-Wave. They use a proprietary protocol called Radio RA 2/Clear Connect. They work perfectly fine but I just don’t love the way they look so if I can replace it with something that has the appearance of the Inovelli stuff then that’s the route I’d rather go.

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LOL! No, Caseta is it’s own protocol :slight_smile: @jason.motwani mentioned he was trying to control a Philips Hue (second post) that’s why I went to Zigbee.

As for me, when available (BR30s or Can replacements, hint… hint) and when the time comes any smart bulbs will be Inovelli :slight_smile:

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I hear that. I have like 20 cans to replace…hopefully there’ll be some holiday packs torn down.

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Yeah, the black series can only control z-wave devices via association if the relay is disabled. For Hue bulb control the red series is needed as you can use scenes.