Got my hubitat delivered just before Christmas, so I managed to get a couple of Zigbee switches attached to lights in my living room, they work great and it was fairly painless. I even got as far as getting them connected to my google home account, much to the delight of my wife.
Before the hub arrived, I purchased a smart light switch to enable me to switch the main living room light on and off, as well as the switch connected lights, so far so good. I even managed to wire up said switch and it worked (up to a point), unfortunately the LED light in my living room has a noticeable flicker. How would I go about fixing this? I’ve read in a previous post, that you have to fit a capacitor across the live and neural of the switch, is this the cases? Any links to buy said capacitor and how to fit it would be greatly appreciated.
The problem is that there’s not a sufficient load. There are many load supplements to fix this. Here is one that I have used with my LED can lights on my Lutron Caseta dimmers.
Sorry, my fault, I should have been clearer, the switch isn’t a dimmer it’s a 2 gang 240V no neutral (i live in the uk) and the LED light is the following.
Hi @billy1 it doesn't show the wattage on the website that I could see.
Although the others assumed it was a dimmer the fix is still the same. The device needs a neutral, electrical devices don't work without one. The "none neutral" devices still need and get a neutral they just get it through the load. Inorder for this too work, the load has to be ON all the time but tiny loads can't handle this little draw and flicker as they charge up and discharge with the load draw.
To get around this you install a dummy load bypass this does the job so the light doesn't need too. You can get Fibaro and aeotec ones but in the industry we used to call them "snubbers" they are basically a capacitor and resister. Even with this sometimes it's still not enough if your load it super small, it all depends on the smart device minimum load.
This is why it's always better to have a smart device that needs a neutral, where your wiring allows it obviously.
Thanks for the help, much appreciated, after taking your advice and doing a bit of research myself, I found a part at my local screwfix that did the job. See link below.
So now, no flickering. result!
Unfortunately my wife doesn't like the look of the Zigbee switch I've used (and I tend to agree with her) she's asked me to replace it with a more conventional looking switch, something kinetic (clicky).
Current switch that works fine with the current generic zigbee switch driver (only one of the gangs)
So do any of you guy happen to know of a Zigbee no neutral single and dual gang switch, that works with Hubitat? both gangs.
You wouldn't happen to know if the generic driver will show up both gangs with that product. I've only wired up one of the gangs on my current switch and it only shows one gang,
I was hoping to use the other gang to control a side light (which is connected to a zigbee plug). Is that possible? or am I thinking of it in the wrong way?
The capacitor from screwfix worked a treat, I would definitely recommend them.
My thoughts on the switch, well it works well, but it doesn't really fit in with the decor of the house and you have to be quite precise when your trying to switch the lights on or off (touch sensitive), so I'm going to replace it with a clicky? switch (push button switch that's a bit more robust and easier for everyone to use).
Maybe this one.
I've not pulled the trigger on buying it yet, but I'll let you know when it's installed and working, if you've an interest.
Have my whole house installed with these, work great, show live feedback (on/off) with no issues. When I had them with SmartThings they fell off a lot but never had this issue with HE. Did have to buy some new bulbs because the old ones hummed
