Power outage appears to have bricked all my red dimmers

Switches General Discussion
#21

I would expect that to work, but not certain.

#22

Okay I did that, and I am completely certain it factory reset and went green, yellow, red.

However, it will still not exclude or include. I am getting the pulsing blue on the dimmer, but it won’t include or exclude.

#23

How far away is the hub?

#24

About 5-10 feet free air line of sight.

#25

After a power cycle, leave it on for 10-15 mins. I know it sounds strange, but I had a few that wouldn’t join after initial power cycle. After leaving it on for a few minutes, I was able to include it with no issues.

Also, maybe cycle the hub?

#26

I will do that. I will try again in 20 minutes. I also power cycled the hub a couple of times already unfortunately.

#27

Hopefully you’ll get the switches back. I was asking because power surges are notorious for killing smart devices. In the past, I have lost both GE switches and garage door opener boards after a power failure. In my cases, it was from the surge when power was restored.

A surge could also come from a generator starting up. In the US in a very recent code update, the installation of surge suppression is now required with service replacements and upgrades. Unfortunately, if your generator was installed a while ago under older code, that requirement would not have been there and so you may not have one.

They are usually in your breaker panel as a small device that probably contains a LED indicator across two slots, but they can also be attached to outside of the box.

I personally believe they are a good thing to have. Although you can’t say for sure, there is a pretty good chance the issues you’re having are related to the power failure and resulting surge. So if you don’t have one now, it’s something to consider for the future. I still wouldn’t do away with individual surge protectors on critical components, but they are a good first layer of protection.

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#28

Yeah, it is certainly something I can look into for the future if I don’t have one. My house was built in the last 20 years, and the generator was installed about 10 years ago I believe. I am not sure how new the code is you are referring to.

I am a bit put off that these switches would be so susceptible to surges though if it is ultimately the case that they are all dead.

#29

I waited about 45 minutes, and none of the dimmers will reinclude.

#30

Dang. I’m really surprised 4/4 seemed to not include. I had almost 30 dimmers/switches for over two years and lost power from storms/multiple brownouts without losing a device; however, I did have an Eaton Surge protector on the panel.

#31

Did you try a general exclusion?

#32

I’m not familiar with this, can you elaborate? I tried to exclude the normal way (i.e. going into exclusion mode on the hub and on the switch). Both the hub and switch timeout with no changes.

#33

Yeah, it’s definitely unfortunate.

I did just confirm with the installer that my generator is supposedly connected through a surge protector. However I am having them come next week to make sure. I don’t see anything on the panel which would indicate a surge protector is installed.

#34

You reset the switch, but did you force remove the old node from the hub so the dead node isn’t there anymore?

I assume it’s zwaveJS you’re using.

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#35

ZwaveJS2MQTT specifically, yes.

And I did remove the failed nodes, yes. Afaik though, an exclusion should always work even if the device isn’t on your network.

#36

From zwavejs2mqtt go to Actions->Manage Node->Exclusion. A 30 sec countdown should start. Then press the config button 3x on the dimmer.

#37

Yes, that is what I have been doing. Both the switch and the hub timeout with no changes.

#38

Strange. It should exclude even if it’s not included. Does the led strip flash any colors when you press the config 3x?

Edit: Try pressing the config 8x. Maybe local control is disabled? If it flashes red local control is now disabled. Green means it is now enabled.

#39

It pulses blue. But yes I believe the issue is that is simply isn’t communicating with the hub correctly.

#40

Okay I will try that when I get home. That’s an interesting thought. I would think the factory reset should have taken care of that though.