I’ve been following this issue for quite a while. I haven’t purchased any of these switches yet, but other than this one issue, they definitely seem like the right ones. But a delay between when the switch is pressed and it changes the state of the circuit it’s physically attached to is unacceptable.
I’m after a good, solid switch that acts exactly like a normal switch, but can be controlled remotely and possibly be made to trigger circuits it’s not physically attached to.
@dcormier - To me it’s not that noticeable after having them installed for about 8 months. I have a routine at sunset to turn on, so a lot of the delays are not noticeable because it’s automatic. But yes, if you’re expecting a switch to turn on immediately or be illuminated before your finger is even lifted from the switch, then it may not be for you. I think the scenes outweigh the ms lag. You may want to buy one to test out because you may not find it that bad.
Like @mikkle said, ST has additional delay due to cloud processing. The delay we’re talking about is the time it takes to wait for a 2nd tap or for a hold. That’s programmed into the firmware and would always exist when using the switch physically. When using software, there’s no delay since there’s no reason to wait.
Just switched all my switches from GE/Jasco to the Red series and the response is so slow. I changed the parameters to instant on/off however there’s still a delay. I know there’s a firmware in the works but any ETA yet?
Seconded, would love an update on this firmware. The delay between physical button press and the light turning on is very noticeable and confusing for guests.
Jumping in late on this thread but I can share some thoughts here. I’m new to Inovelli but not new to Hubitat, home automation, or various forms of lighting control across industries. I started with a single Red Series dimmer (LZW31-SN) as I was interested how it handled LED loads and how the notifications worked. Now 2/3 of my home has been switched (a pun?) to the LZW31-SN. I own a small fleet you can say. Despite a few shortcomings they are my favorite in-wall dimmers in this market so far.
BEST POINTS
outstanding customization capabilities especially using the Inovelli written Hubitat drivers
outstanding support from Inovelli and this community
ability to install dimmers in a variety of situations (for example, no neutral, 3-way/n-way, shallow gang boxes, etc.)
notifications are useful and well implemented as are the abilities to customize and control them along with the LED bar
high build quality including the feeling of the buttons when pushed
colors match Lutron’s hardware hiding wall plates perfectly
COMPARABLE WITH THE INDUSTRY
dimming smoothness is about as good as any other dimmer I have used in this market — I have complained/commented about this elsewhere in the forums but once I studied it I realized that my older dimmers that “looked” smoother actually only looked that way because their fade times were not adjustable from the hub/programmatically. Once slowed to match a slow fade on the LZW31-SN it looked about the same
ability to dim LED loads — there’s no magic bullet here and it still varies greatly but just like others it has a lot to do with the bulb and only a little to do with dimmers (in the pro lighting world in which I work we do have to do some tricky stuff to dim tough LED loads or we swap out all the bulbs before filming usually a halogen or incandescent source)
CRITIQUES
By far my least favorite thing is exactly the topic of this thread and the comments along the way — that delay from when the button is pushed until light is seen is too long. Even an LZW30-SN or an LZW31-SN with its times set to zero I still see too long of a delay and as @wak47 said it is confusing for guests (and impacts SAF/WAF). It seems that before pairing with any hub the switch/dimmer responded more quickly? This is not deal killing delay but it definitely is a point to pick.
occasional flicker/instability with low wattage loads (even incandescent)
inability to set independent off state LED bar color/shape — can be done with rules or a custom driver yes I know, but that creates a lot of rules or a custom driver to maintain and it adds traffic to the mesh
inability to set independent up/down timing — Lutron does this well by default and the idea is simple — you want to turn on the light quickly because you pressed the paddle and want to enter a room but on the way out of that room you want a little light left as you exit or just want a softer transition on the way to darkness
inability to set separate min/max levels depending on the direction of dimming — this further would enhance LED bulb compatibility as some of the best LED bulbs can achieve very low intensities but only if they are on the way down vs on the way up (for example, some LED bulbs can dim down to very low values but only if starting from some substantially higher value whereas almost all LED bulbs have to be dimmed up to some substantial level before emitting first light)
On the whole the Inovelli dimmers (and products in general that I have experienced) are excellent as is the company. This community also adds a huge value. @EricM_Inovelli and others from Inovelli are very active here and active in the Hubitat forums too. That speaks a lot to the kind of culture Inovelli curates and how much passion they have for their products and customers.
Not sure what you mean bu your description. You can independently set min/max levels though but don’t understand your description so maybe that’s not what you meant.
@gbenrus25 — thanks for pointing to this! I should have added a few more words to clarify. I meant to say “inability to set separate min/max levels depending on the direction of dimming.” The prior post has been edited to fix this. Thanks!
I’ve just joined the Inovelli movement and have installed 4 Red Series dimmer switches. I really appreciate the notifications bar, which was the main selling point for me. Now that I have 4 installed, I’m finding this delay to be the only real downside. I still have 8 more switches to install, but am wondering if I can count on a firmware upgrade in the future that will allow people to configure this scene delay (or set to 0)? For reference, I have the delay and dimming parameters set to 0.
@EricM_Inovelli, can you comment if a configurable scene delay (allowing for removing the delay completely) is in the firmware road map? If so, can we get an ETA on when we would see it?
To answer your question - yes, this is definitely on the roadmap. We’re finalizing the latest firmware for our existing switches (there were a few bugs from the first production run that we have to fix) and once that’s done, we will be starting on the alternate version where the instant on will become a part of the firmware.
ETA on when we can start this is likely 2wks as that’s when we have to wrap up the production firmware.
As far as how long, not sure, but they’re pretty good and fast.
We’re also pushing for them to hand over the firmware per our contract, but it’s been a real pain. Hopefully that will all be alleviated in a month or so as well.
I have a Black series dimmer switch and I certainly notice a bit of a delay when using the physical switch. I would expect it to be pretty much instant after I let go of the button (once the internals know I’m not holding to adjust brightness) since this device doesn’t support any multi-press features. Frankly, that was one of the reasons I went with the Black over Red dimmer switch.
Is there a reason why there is a delay on the Black series? A friend of mine has a cheap TP-Link On/Off WiFi switch and he said using that is absolutely instant, for example.
Yeah the manufacturer basically took the Red Series firmware and stripped out the scenes, but did not remove the delay. It was an oversight by us to be frank.
We’ll have it fixed on the next round of firmware.
@Eric_Inovelli please please please let the delay be configurable rather than just 0 (instant on). Also, let the delay for a hold also be configurable. A lot of us with red switches still want to have scenes. However, the way for a double tap or hold is longer than other switches that support them (e.g. the GE switches) and we’d love to reduce those waits.
I love the stuff you’re doing with the new switches and the roadmap.
I had to remove a Red switch because the lag was noticeably too long when pressing the physical switch on. It irritated me a little but really bothered other family members. I would really love to outfit my whole house with Inovelli switches but they can’t have this lag, especially if I don’t need scene control on that switch or just minimal scene control, like just a double tap or the config button. As a temporary measure I had to install a Zooz S2 Zen 26 switch because it responds much quicker to the physical paddle. I’m waiting to buy a batch of Inovelli switches if we can get this lag issue resolved.
Hey Nate – yeah, definitively, we just launched Beta 1.19 for our On/Off switches that removed the 700ms delay and we’re working on the dimmer firmware right now.
All new switches (going into production in August) will have the ability to configure the switch to not have the 700ms delay.
