Full disclosure, I don’t know from an engineering side how this works, so if someone else who has a more technical background could explain, that would be amazing – @EricM_Inovelli – maybe you can help?
This is the installation procedure for a single pole.
Great question on the multi-bulb setup. I will check with the manufacturer, but it’s my understanding that you would likely only need to install one (you may not even need to install any if the wattage of your bulbs exceeds 25W).
A basic explanation: the bypass allows for and controls the completion of the light circuit while keeping the light OFF. The reason that most smart switches do not work without a neutral, is that without the neutral there is no completion of the electrical circuit and therefore, no power gets to z-wave/zigbee/bluetooth/wifi chip. The dimmer could allow a small amount of power to go through the circuit to counteract the above issue, but this generally results in bulbs not turning completely off or flickering. The more bulbs that you add to the circuit the less likely that is to occur. Also, the more power you are able to allow through, the more power that the z-wave chip can “sip” from the circuit.
The bypass alleviates all of the above issues by allowing the necessary amount of power through the circuit to power the z-wave chip, but at the same time controls the amount of power delivered to the bulb to prevent flickering or the bulbs from not turning off.
Awesome, thanks @DJGleeeeeen! Yeah @Jailrn98 you can either email us or we will be sending out an email once the dimmers are on their way so we can confirm both your address and also whether or not you need a bypass (and how many).
Thanks for the documentation and references. Definitely want to better understand the 25W threshold better. In my use cases, I’ve got varying numbers of BR30 bulbs on switches. At 11W each, 2 lights will require a bypass but 3 will not?
I missed the preorder so I’m bummed about the added expense. What’s the final price with and without bypass that we’ll see on Amazon? ETA for non-pre-orders?
So I pre ordered in May and I’m not as tek savvy with this stuff as some that I’m seeing in here. I’m in Toronto Canada and was wondering if they are still making their way here this coming week. Also, I won’t know if I need the bypass til I get them and connect them. If they don’t turn off then I’ll need them. I wasn’t sure if I understood correctly. Are you sending the bypass automatically or is it by request?
Could you please update us on the production and shipping schedule? Since we’re a week plus into production you may have some more concrete information and timeline. Thanks!!!
I just got the latest production schedule from the manufacture and they are estimating shipping for Pre-Orders (as well as a small batch for Amazon USA) to ship October 25th. My best guess, would be they’d be at HQ around the 28th or so (pending Customs clearance).
Wave two of Dimmers are shipping November 2nd (to Amazon USA and Amazon Canada).
I’m looking forward to the dimmers being generally available on Amazon again. I bought some of your switches last October to do a first wave of home automation. When I went back to Amazon to buy more devices (some time last winter, IIRC) everything was out of stock. I came to the Inovelli site to try to see what was going on and saw the availability estimates, and decided to wait… and wait… and wait…
99.9999% of the time in a situation like this, I find an equivalent product from a competitor and just buy that instead. It is very unusual for me to just put everything on hold, for months, to wait for a specific company to get their product out.
Hey @ldd – first, thanks so much for joining the community and for posting!
Yeah, I 100% agree with you and I’m the same way.
We ran into an interesting situation last year in that the manufacturer we were using abruptly changed the pricing and repayment structure with us, causing a ton of issues with stock and ultimately we had to sever ties. This quite frankly sucked in that we had no product for close to a year and, as you can imagine, was tons of fun (no product = no cash-flow). But, we looked on the bright side and looked to restructure our entire business model and I believe it actually worked out for the best in that we were able to develop our own products (ie: not be tied down to white-label products) and partner with a manufacturer that is the #1 IOT exporter (they make Ring, IKEA, some GE – non Z-Wave – and a ton of others).
I am going to assume the Amazon orders and other will still exceed the pre-order price for those that have patiently waited for months? I would also hope an email with shipping details/tracking number will be pending shortly.
Yeah definitely – Amazon will be full MSRP and yes, as soon as the products are shipped over, we will send out an email with a form to fill out for pre-orders (confirming address and also bypasses).
Once they are at HQ, we will send out tracking info once we ship them.
We slipped another week and a half behind from the original production schedule? You guys are killing me! And my electricians are in turn killing me…there are all sort of jokes now about these switches from them jabbing at me about how special they must be. So close, I hope I can hold out…but I’m worried that we’re still not hitting dates.
Please keep this thread posted with updates as the dates continue to change even at this late stage.
Out of curiosity, have you delayed the preorder shipping to run a larger batch to have availability on amazon immediately? I thought the original plan was two runs…
Hey @cocyclist – killing me too man. Lots of variables in play and I’m just going off what the manufacturer says. Wish I could make these dang switches myself.
Jokes on them – they won’t have a smart house and you will!
Will do.
No, we haven’t delayed anything. I originally thought it would take a week and a half, but apparently it took longer than anticipated on their side.
The original plan was and still is two runs. The first run is to cover Pre-Orders and then we had to add in a little bit extra to send to Amazon USA because in order to sell on Amazon Canada, we need to have inventory on Amazon USA (idk why, but that’s just how it is). So, first run ships in 9 days (ESTIMATED - Again, I don’t have a crystal ball) and then the next run ships November 2.
I’m trying my best man – but there’s only so much I can do. It’s not fun for me either.
Glad to hear things are coming soon. My biggest gripe with the current generation of black/red 3-way switches is the “click” of the relay when turning on and off. Do the dimmers make any noise (hum, clicks, or otherwise)?
Great question – yeah, it’s kind of annoying, I agree. I wish we could solve for it, but there wasn’t any other switches out there we could compare to that didn’t click
The dimmers will only click if they are in a 3-Way setting with a dumb switch (totally random, I know – but there was no way around this).
In all other settings (single pole, 3-Way w/aux, etc) there will be no clicking.
