My workshop has 24x 18W T8 LEDs (yes you need sunglasses lol) so the 600W ceiling is great for my application.
@Eric_Inovelli any chance you’ll update the red switches to support 600W?
My workshop has 24x 18W T8 LEDs (yes you need sunglasses lol) so the 600W ceiling is great for my application.
@Eric_Inovelli any chance you’ll update the red switches to support 600W?
Also, keep in mind different types of loads affect the wattage requirements:
Max Wattage for Lights: See below – maximum will vary based on bulb type and whether the heat sink tabs are removed or not
Heat Sink Tabs Not Removed: 400W Incandescent, 300W LED, 150W CFL
One (1) Side Heat Sink Tabs Removed: 300W Incandescent, 200W LED, 150W CFL
Two (2) Sides Heat Sink Tabs Removed: 200W Incandescent, 150W LED, 100W CFL
And to think I thought my 12 shop lights was excessive! I took 4 out as was too bright.
But see your point as saw many much larger installations in commercial construction. I wonder then if it would be worth making the zigbee ‘consumer’ line a lower power/cost option and retaining higher power in z-wave?
I have 3 banks of 4 fixtures. Each fixture has 2 bulbs. I love the amount of light. It’s like looking at stuff with a magnifying glass. And no shadows since light is coming from all directions.
I posted this back on the zwave red switches, but I feel it applies here too.
If the switch can measure its own power, it should have a built in safety to prevent over loading. If the Max watts is 600W, then the it should force its cut off the relay around that number and probably flash the led or throw an event to the controller(Can zigbee do that? I’m always on zwave.) It should probably throw a warning if it reaches close to max load as well, not sure who much space there is on zigbee chips firmware wise.
I know the goal is to not have heat sinks on it, but if that doesn’t happen, it would be nice to configure the firmware to change its max load. In the zwave world Id imagine this as a parameter you set to the number of tabs you removed and it figures out the max wattage from there, but I’m not sure how that works with zigbee. My zigbee mesh is all cheap door sensors and 2-3 cheap wall plugs for repeaters.
EDIT: If the chip that does power does tempature as well, having a max temp as well/instead would be nice.
Since this is a new build, it might be time to fix the ramping and dimming issues with the current dimmer series switches.
Specifically:
As noted in the other threads on this topic, I think the switch can cover these conditions, it will expand the number of bulbs supported, allow the community to share profiles with certain bulb types for best performance, and give inovelli a rock-solid base to build off of. (We would also love to see these in a firmware release for the current dimmer switches but understand space is limited).
Let’s get this core functionality dialed in as long as we have a new product. Now is the time!
Thank you!!!
P.S. Please also own and have a copy of the firmware so you can get someone to help if your manufacture cant figure it out.
Why this isn’t a thing after getting burned on round 1 and adding into contract on round 2 baffles me. It’s literally Inovelli IP contractually, perhaps the manufacturer is strong-arming them on this based on production of the switches.
Great question and apologies for the delay on the answer.
Our strategy moving forward is (very high level):
Our focus is and always will be lighting – focus on switches and perfect the industry, while adding in bulbs and sensors (possibly plugs) to round out the overall lighting experience. We want to be the Ring of lighting.
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure and I’m going to be extremely humbled here lol – we rely heavily on our manufacturers at this point to help us from an engineering perspective, so I’m not 100% sure on how all the circuitry works. We basically say, “this is what we want and why” and they come back with the design and implementation. I hope one day we can hire an engineer of some sort to help us with these questions.
Another great question – typically how I do my research when coming up with product ideas and writing the PRD is to look at the competition to see what they have from a B2C standpoint and pick/choose the options we want in our products. Couple that with customer feedback and you have a nice, fancy PRD. In the past (even with our Gen 2 products), we’ve been lower than the competition on LED max wattage. The main culprits are chandeliers. Most people who start down a path of choosing a company to go with, remain loyal to that company (if they have a good experience) and want their switches to match, so if we fall short on specs for one area of their house, then we may lose out on the entire house.
Yes, wish I could answer this one lol.
Likely not as it would require a hardware change and I had this in my original PRD and it was not able to be done at the time. I can’t remember the reasoning, but I remember them pushing back on this. So, it may not even be able to be done with this dimmer, but if I don’t ask, then the answer is always no
Excellent point. I feel like ours do now, but I can double check. If not, it’s definitely something that should be added. I suppose if they don’t, at the very least, we should put an automation in the Wiki that says, “if max load = x, turn off light and send notification” or something.
I’m going to add this to the list above
This is a great idea as well!
Yes, that would be cool – I don’t think it does, but I can ask. We’ve tried to get temperature chips inside the switches before for monitoring the room temperature, but were told that it would be very inaccurate due to the internal temperature. However, it would be a nice safety feature.
Most definitely. It’s funny I’m seeing this now as I just installed some different LED lights in my basement and they are very choppy. I don’t notice it as much on certain LED’s, so I’m wondering how we solve this as it could just simply be a variance in how the bulbs react to the switch.
Question for you – are you pretty well versed in how dimmers work with LED’s? Maybe we can have you talk a bit about it via PM (or publicly, it doesn’t matter) with us and the manufacturer.
@Darwyn_Inovelli – this is what I’m talking about with the choppy bulb issue on our Z-Wave switches.
LOL, it’s much more complicated than you think, but I understand being perplexed about it. I’m hoping the ZigBee manufacturer won’t play these games with us and I’m told it won’t be a problem here, so hopefully we’re good.
Hmmm??? I might be available in 5-6 years
Quick update here – we’re still on track for a September release date. @Darwyn_Inovelli says July 30, but we’re going to add a couple months in for comfort
Is there any indication yet on how these will compare depth wise to the zwave line? Will they end up pretty similar?
I’ll be needing a coupe of those
No not yet. I know the team is exploring a slimmer depth, but we haven’t gotten to that point yet. It’s definitely the goal!
Is the chip shortage going to affect you guys?
Heck yes. Sucks real bad. We’re still trying to work thru it, but it’s not looking good.
We feel exactly like Ron Burgandy in this scene every time we have to talk about extended lead times.
Here’s a simple rule for Hubitat to do that
Given how much hue bulbs I have I really like this Zigbee switch concept.
On the other hand → maybe I’d have to nix the hue hub and go wiht a deconz/zha depending on how well it works with hue.
Definitely interested in this if it can do even basic functionality on/off/dim via Hue app. I don’t have or necessarily want any of the current home automation hubs or systems but I do want “smart” lighting. Hue is fine for my needs so far but some light fixtures or lighting scenarios simply don’t work with smart bulbs. Being able to control “dumb” lights with a Hue-compatible smart switch would be a game changer and let me automate all the lighting in my house.
If you need technically capable beta testers let me know. One computer programmer remodeling an entire house with a few dozen “smart” lighting automation scenarios at your service whenever you ask…