Flickering issue with GE dimmer when using Hubitat

jl.quema · March 30, 2020, 1:52pm

Good morning everyone.

I'm facing a weird issue when pairing a "GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Smart Dimmer" with Hubitat:
Whenever I dim over 38%, it starts flickering (the higher, the faster)

This dimmer was initially paired with a Honeywell Lyrics hub and there was no flickering issue.
(As a matter of fact, I did unpair from Hubitat and pair it again with Lyric and the flickering issue disappeared but as soon I pair it again with Hubitat, it starts flickering again)

I also (electrically) unplugged Hubitat to operate the dimmer manually but here as well the flickering occurred.

Is there any known issue with this combination (GE + Hubitat)? any fix?

Thanks,
/JL

Ryan780 · March 30, 2020, 3:28pm

When you unpaired the dimmer from your other hub it reset the settings within the dimmer and that is why the issue exists now when controlled from Hubitat and not. Do you remember if you had any specific settings for the device in your other hub? Usually you get a flickering bulb when a dimmer is too low, not when it is too high. so, if your dimmer is at 20%, you get no flickering at all?

jl.quema · March 30, 2020, 4:59pm

There was no specific setting in that other hub that I'm aware of. When I'm paring again with that hub again, I only "include" the device and it works.

Now regarding the flickering: from 1% to 38% no problem at all. Above 38% and up to 100%, the more I increase the brightness, the faster it flickers.

One additional test I did: unpairing from hubitat and not pairing it back with Lyric: no flickering either.

It's really confusing.

Ryan780 · March 30, 2020, 5:00pm

Did you have any rules around this device in Hubitat yet?

codahq · March 30, 2020, 10:11pm

That is very bizarre and extremely unlikely. Local control for the switch should not depend on the Hubitat. The HE hub should be able to be plugged in or not and local control should function regardless.

The only thing that I can think of that would affect local functionality would be if the Lyric hub passed certain configuration parameters on pairing that the HE hub does not pass.

What model of GE dimmer is it really? There are several models of the "Smart" dimmer because they rebranded the 14XXX series halfway through and then released a new line also called Enbrighten. Also, what driver are you using? Maybe some driver is passing a parameter to alter the steps or step length incorrectly. I think those dimmers support both number of steps and step length. Maybe. I didn't fact check just now.

jl.quema · March 30, 2020, 10:26pm

@Ryan780, no, I didn't set any rule for this device in Hubitat

@codahq, How can I check the driver? Are you referring to the type?
The device is shown as type = "GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Smart Dimmer".

deviceType: 18756 (in device details)

When it comes to the Lyric, I don't think it passes a specific configuration but I'm not sure how to find out.

codahq · March 30, 2020, 10:29pm

The driver is highlighted. The one I have selected is custom e.g. not included out-of-the-box. What other data do you have on the device edit screen?

jl.quema · March 30, 2020, 10:40pm

Here is what I got in the Data Section (I cannot upload the screenshot for any reason):

deviceType: 18756
inClusters: 0x5E,0x26,0x85,0x59,0x86,0x72,0x55,0x5A,0x73,0x5B,0x9F,0x6C,0x70,0x22,0x7A
deviceId: 12855
manufacturer: 99

jl.quema · March 30, 2020, 10:42pm

And I confirm the Driver/Type is "GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Smart Dimmer" (likely built-in as I didn't add any custom one)

codahq · March 30, 2020, 10:47pm

Okay, I am wondering if something didn't change in an OOB driver. Here is another thread with a GE device changing behavior immediately after pairing.

I mentioned Mike in that one. I'll do the same here.

@mike.maxwell Any changes to the Enbrighten driver passing or not passing configuration parameters? Or the pairing process?

jl.quema · March 30, 2020, 10:52pm

I'm not sure if it helps but here are some additional observations:

I paired again (for the 6th time) with HE and now the flicker starts above 55% (previously it was always around 36 - 38%)
When paired with HE, Interferences (e.g. microwave) will trigger the flicker when above a certain value (30% in my previous attempts, 46% in the last one). In other words, when using the microwave, the threshold at which the flicker starts is 10% less. - Note that when paired with Lyric, there is no flicker at any value, microwave or not.

mike.maxwell · March 31, 2020, 1:40pm

Some refactoring was performed in 2.1.9, but no functional changes and nothing like these issues were noted when those updates were tested with the actual dimmer.

jl.quema · March 31, 2020, 7:58pm

Is there any way to diagnose/debug a dimmer without pairing it ?

This would be to check if the Lyric passed any specific parameter to the dimmer (that are erased/reset when excluding it).

mike.maxwell · March 31, 2020, 8:40pm

There are no configuration parameters that would cause the bulb to flicker.

Your microwave is causing interference with the HE zwave radio for this device.

jl.quema · March 31, 2020, 8:47pm

Well, let's ignore the microwave as it is not the main issue and the flicker occurs even when it is not in use.

Also, after painring with HE and switching off the hub (electricaly unplugged) the flicker still happens.

Here are the different use cases:

paired with Lyric ==> no flicker
paired with Lyric and Lyric off ==> no flicker
excluded from Lyric (no pairing) ==> no flicker
paired with HE ==> flicker above 38%
paired with HE and HE off ==> flicker above 38%

I have yet to test when excluded from HE but from the observation above, it seems the pairing with HE is modifying the dimmer behavior.

JasonJoel · March 31, 2020, 8:51pm

I know this doesn't help, but I have >150 GE/Jasco z-wave dimmers between 3 houses, and I've never seen any configuration setting that can make a bulb flicker/not flicker.

That doesn't mean you are wrong, as sometimes things happen that I don't understand. But I know every published configuration parameter and I can't think of a single one that could possibly do what you are describing.

JohnRob · March 31, 2020, 9:06pm

Just a guess here, but is the Z-Wave mesh different on the HE than your other hubs?

jl.quema · March 31, 2020, 9:06pm

Thanks for your feedback.

I have no idea how to explain this situation.
I have moved the HE in different place in the house, including just next to the dimmer and still have the issue.
I have replaced the dimmer with a Zooz one and no flicker either.
Putting back the GE dimmer, the flicker happens again.
It drives me crazy ...

jl.quema · March 31, 2020, 9:10pm

I don't think so.
I have 3 GE dimmers and 2 Zooz dimmers.
I had them all paired with Lyric first (as the GE were already) and no issue.
Then I moved everything to HE and this is when I started to have the flicker issue on the GE

Would the attributed device_id matter ? (aka, the order in which I pair them)

mike.maxwell · March 31, 2020, 9:23pm

The embrighten driver uses exactly two configuration parameters, both of which default to the device defaults, and both of which are exposed as preference settings, and both of which are published on the alliance site.
No other configuration parameters are sent to the device.
Association group 1 is added during inclusion, and that's it for configuration...