Syncing 3/4-Way Inovelli Dimmer LEDs

I have a 4-Way switch installed with 3x Red Series Dimmers (LZW32-SN) for one light. I know it’s somewhat unnecessary, but for my install, and the LED notifications, I decided to go with 3x Red Dimmers and the ZWave Associations. Functionally, the dimmers work perfectly.

My question is, how does everyone sync the LED bars among these? If I turn on/off the light, the LED bars show whatever the status of the last local change was. They are never in sync.

I read in the documentation that there should be a way though your home automation hub to sync them, but I haven’t found any examples.

I’m using zwavesjs2mqtt and Home Assistant. I’m fairly savvy with Home Assistant, so I’m not scared of YAML, if a custom automation is needed.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Jonesie

You need to setup associations between all the different dimmers with groups 2, 3 and 4. You have 1x load and 2x non load dimmers. Call them L, NL1 and NL2.

Associate L to NL1 with groups 2, 3, and 4
Associate L to NL2 with groups 2, 3, and 4
Associate NL1 to L with groups 2, 3, and 4
Associate NL2 to L with groups 2, 3, and 4
Set param 12 (Association Behavior) to 11 on NL1 and NL2. A value of 11 means all sub parameters are enabled except [2-112-0-12-4] Association Behavior: Z-Wave Hub

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Wow, Stu! Thanks for the thorough write-up!

I currently have NL1 and NL2 associated to L with Groups 2 and 4, per the KB article, using Option #3: Via Manual Association Configuration

At the time of installation, I associated NL1 and NL2 to L with Groups 2 & 4 (per the KB article above), I also need to set those same associations in the reverse direction?

This won’t break anything with the functionality of the dimmers?

Again, I really appreciate the help!

Thanks - Jonesie

You need the associations in both directions to sync everything. By setting param 12 to 11 on NL1&2 it prevents conflicting info from getting back to the hub.

On NL1 and NL2 Param 12 Associate Behavior Z-Wave Hub [68-112-0-12-4] I have [1] Enabled (Default) or [0] Disabled. I don’t have 11 or 12.

You want [0] Disabled. It’s a binary sum of all the param 12 options.

[2-112-0-12-1] Association Behavior: Local = 0b0001 = 1
[2-112-0-12-2] Association Behavior: 3-Way = 0b0010 = 2
[2-112-0-12-4] Association Behavior: Z-Wave Hub = 0b0100 = 4
[2-112-0-12-8] Association Behavior: Timer = 0b1000 = 8

If all bits are Enabled [1] they add to 15 (1+2+4+8). If you set the hub to Disabled [0] you get 11 (1+2+8).

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Thank you for the explanation, Stu. Looking back in Z-Wave JS this makes sense now.

I’ve configured Parameter 12 on the NL switches. I had to update one of the NL switches from 1.47 to 1.57, but it all seems to be working now. Thank you so much for the help and the great explanation!

Jonesie

EDIT: Sorry, this has been sitting for a month waiting to be submitted.

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I had Black series with firmware before 1.57 (1.52 I think) and found with associations that trying to change the dim level didn’t work right. I’m thinking the Red could suffer the same issue since it seems the software is quite similar between them.

I don’t have any Black Series so I can’t comment regarding any issue with associations on them. But many of us are doing 3/4-way associations with the Red series and its all working great, including dimming at all locations and syncing of the LED indicator across all devices

Mine still isn’t working right, but I’ll admit to not looking into too deeply in a while.

My switches behave oddly. One of the switches doesn’t behave right at all, there is a good lag when using the others, and they seem to randomly dim up and down when on, although that might be lag and my wife’s impatience.

Its very important to get all the settings correct or else there will be loops which cause the symptoms you’re describing. Also, when its all set up correctly you still do NOT want to send any commands from the hub/controller to any of the Aux dimmers. For hub/controller commands you ONLY send them to the Master dimmer

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I don’t know the specifics for setting it up in HA/zwavejs2mgtt but the info Stu gave you looks right to me from a generic perspective.

You can simplify it a little bit by removing some of the associations he listed. You only need these to make it work:
Associate L to NL1 with groups 2 and 3
Associate L to NL2 with groups 2 and 3
Associate NL1 to L with groups 2 and 4
Associate NL2 to L with groups 2 and 4

And the real key is getting Parameter 12 set right.
ONLY the Load switch should have Parameter 12 set to 15
ALL the Non-Load (Aux) switches NEED parameter 12 set to 11 … if you don’t get this right there will be loops causing slowdowns and erratic behaviour

Oh one other thing I just remembered that I don’t think was mentioned. You’ll want to set all the Dimming Rates (params 1-2) the same on all the associated dimmers to they all dim up/down at the same rate.

Thanks! I’ll tinker with this tomorrow!

@mamber - as I posted, they did not work right with the older firmware. 1.57 works fine for me.

@Jonesie - If the switch isn’t on firmware 1.57 then update it. Sounds very similar to the issues I was seeing.

I assume all 3 switches need an Association to NodeID_1 for Lifeline?

image

yes, but you shouldn’t have to create that association yourself. It should be done automatically when the device pairs with the hub. (I say should because I can’t speak specifically for Home Assistant)

This seems to have solved it. On the switch that wasn’t working properly (at all), I had X-112-0-12-4 (ZWave Hub Association) enabled, resulting in a value of 15 for param 12 instead of 11. Everything seems to be working now.

EDIT: My dimmers were all upgraded to 1.57 when I installed them and started this, so I can’t say whether or not it helped, but it does work with 1.57.

Thanks again for the help!

Jonesie

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