GE Enbrighten..are these really as good as it gets?

These GE Enbrigthen smart things seemed to be the most recommended so we swapped out all of our switches throughout the house. We've got ~4 fan controls, ~15 or so dimmers, ~3 or so switches, plus some dummy 3 ways attached to some of those, and two wall outlets. They constantly just stop working. I have to pull the tab out and push it back in to reset it or manually flip the breaker to interrupt the power to them to get them working again. We have lamps plugged into the wall outlets and have to get up and walk to the outlet and push the button to toggle the outlet. Fans just won't work without tripping the power. I've had fans and lights stuck on that I've had to go flip the breaker to make them shut off.

I've honestly never used a product as bad these. They're supposed to do one thing--be usable via automation. Not only do they fail to do that--they make it worse by making the manual switch not respond without tripping the breaker.

Am I the only one that's had this experience? Are there better options? What are my options regarding how bad these devices are?

Wow that sounds horrible.. I only use the GE Enbrighten toggle style switches (the newer ZW+ "QuickFit/SimpleWire" version) for bathroom fans and outdoor heaters. They have been working fine in that role both at home and at my clients. Use Zooz for the "normal" switches. Note: the only consideration not going with GE initially was price. Inovelli does not have toggle style switches.

Are you sure you don't have some funky wiring issues like a hot neutral or something?

I've had good luck with my Zooz Zen 27, The inovelli's seem good but there are too flashy for my wife.

I also have some very old GoLinear WD500Z-1 dimmers that just seem to work.

My definition of good luck is they do what they are supposed to do and don't require any attention from me.

I do not have any GE's for comparison. BTW If you do go to change I suggest you get a few and see how they work for you.

It sure sounds like a bad power issue to have that many problems with so many devices.

I'm assuming these are the z-wave plus, not the zigbee enbrighten switches (I have both). I had similar problems with one of my z-wave plus switches when I was still on SmartThings. It would go offline and not even allow control from the switch. The only way to get it working again would be to turn the breaker off and on. I don't believe this is an issue with these devices in general, but more likely a bad switch causing problems, or a mesh or interference problem.
Thinking back, I also had a few z-wave (not plus) switches/dimmers that I bought on clearance that I replaced after switching to Hubitat. The problem device (which was furthest from the hub) hasn't required any attention since.
Is your hub centrally located, or in an area close to other z-wave repeaters?
With so few devices, especially if they are spaced relatively far apart, you may just be suffering the effects of a weak mesh network.

My hub is centralized on the second floor in our loft. ~10' from it is a dimmer switch. Within 20' of that switch are 5 more switches (and I guess most of those are within the same distance of the hub), then with all the others there probably isn't more than 20' between them.

These are the z-wave plus switches--not zigbee. We chose z-wave so it would create the network with our front door lock and we wouldn't need a separate repeater.

I didn't count the switches/outlets specifically, but 20-25 devices is "so few"? I would have thought that would be enough for a good network. I would understand if the mesh network isn't good enough to respond via automation--but that wouldn't explain why the physical switch at the wall would just randomly stop responding, right?

The fan controls seem to be the biggest offenders. Counting them we have 3, but we've had issues with all 3 of them (and even had them send replacements but haven't installed those yet as we also have had lights not respond).

No I'm not positive about that. What can I buy to verify that?

Maybe one of these devices is spamming the network and causing devices to "lock up".

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Bless your heart, that is brave. Just to be sure, though, who is the "we" that swapped the devices? Did people other than yourself have their hands fiddling with your wiring? Others mentioned power issues, and sometimes those can be inadvertently created. I will spare you the war stories from when I worked for a lighting control company in the 1990's.

I have two Enbrighten dimmers. One is Zigbee (#43080) and one is Z-Wave (#46203). Both have been solid performers since day 1.

Probably an electrician? :rofl:

Actually you can use a multimeter and test wires for being hot / voltage etc.

I have tested outlets with these devices as well:

receptacle tester:

voltmeter:

Also make sure you are not placing too much load on your switches.. see what the max is..

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"We" is just "me". The house is brand new (~11 months old by now) so the wires were pretty well marked and I'd say it was as easy as legos.

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Well. I replaced most of my Zooz switches with GE Enbrighten switches because of all of the problems I had with the Zooz switches. Have had zero problems with the GE switches.

I'm currently suspicious of my older V2 Zooz switches but the newer ones V4 & 700 series are working well. The 700 series has a bit lower max wattage rating than I'd like. As mentioned the GE Enbrightens for exhaust fans are just working. I like the ability to illuminate the toggle switch..not sure it's same for the paddles.

To answer your question posted in the subject, I would answer, no. They are not the best. I personally prefer Lutron Casétas. More expensive, but rock solid. Requires a Lutron Pro hub, but they talk on your local network via telnet. The Pico remotes are icing on the Sundae.

I have nothing but GE/Jasco/UltraPro switches in my house and they have always been reliable, either via direct use or automations. Not sure why you would have issues other than due to a weak Z-Wave mesh, a switch going south, or possibly a ghost device or two.

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It's a very strange symptom.. certainly not one that is common around here (this Community.)

Your original post says you have 22 devices (the Aux 3-way don't have radios, so they don't count.) Are all of them behaving this way or half? I just bought a GE Enbrighten SmartDimmer (ZW3010) a little more than a week ago. I installed it on to a C-7 and this device would be furthest from the Hub. (I have multiple hubs and that one physical location has 3 ZWave in-wall devices, but all 3 were on a different hub. I needed to replace the antique GE/Jasco ZWave dimmer there as it's the 2nd to last non-Plus device I have. In doing so, I migrated that dimmer to the C-7, so it's surrounded on both sides by ZWave devices connected to a different Hubitat hub.)

I didn't have any trouble with that Include and just yesterday, I migrated a Recessed Door sensor to the C-7, because it would be able to use the new Dimmer as a router, if needed. Turns out it couldn't care less about the router 4 feet away and is using a device halfway between the Sensor and the Hub. To my knowledge, this is the first of the Enbrighten line Ive bought, with its shallower depth (quickfit) and SimpleWire features.

The purpose of this very long story is to provide a sense that you are correct to be scratching your head on this and thinking it's not right... it isn't. Did you buy them in bulk? (Should we be wondering if you got a really bad batch?) You don't say what vintage Hub you're using, the latest being C-7, and it has a Stats column on the ZWave Details page that can be used to measure Mesh quality.

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Might be a good idea to list specific model numbers that you are having problems with. "GE Enbrighten" doesn't narrow the field to a specific generation of switches.

Next time one doesn't respond to local control, I'd just shut down Hubitat and see if the problem goes away. I don't see how that would matter though since we are talking local control.

My house is full of GE/Jasco/Honeywell Z-Wave+ switches/dimmers are have only had one to develop an issue (different from this) in over three years (and Jasco gladly replaced it even though it was three years old). Something is just not right here.

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What driver are you using? Have you tried Jason Bottjen’s component drivers? Work fine for me. 26931, 26933

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There was mention in another thread about the possibility of wonky firmware when using S2 on an Enbrighten fan switch causing lock ups. If you're using S2 on your switches then maybe that bug is not limited to just the fan switch and you can try pairing without security.

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I had one and got rid of it when it died after about a year. Switched to inovelli l. Never had a problem with those.

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