I went and replaced all my old z-wave devices with z-wave plus devices. One of my switches is a GE Enbrighten Dimmer (new model, no tabs) connected to two LED can lights. Unfortunately it doesn't work, I can get 0 or 100%, anything else is a strobe (not a flicker).
I put in an Aeotec Dimmer bypass between load and neutral on the back of the switch but it had absolutely no effect (affect?).
The other GE Dimmers that work with multiple LED can lights (no idea on the make/model, builder put them in):
- deviceType: 18756
- deviceId: 12344
- inClusters: 0x5E,0x56,0x86,0x72,0x5A,0x85,0x59,0x73,0x26,0x27,0x70,0x2C,0x2B,0x7A
- manufacturer: 99
- Driver: Generic Z-Wave Smart Dimmer
The model not working:
- deviceType: 18756
- deviceId: 12853
- inClusters: 0x5E,0x26,0x85,0x59,0x86,0x72,0x55,0x5A,0x73,0x5B,0x9F,0x6C,0x70,0x22,0x7A
- manufacturer: 99
- Driver: GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Smart Dimmer
So I guess my question is do I have a bad dimmer as I've seen some mentions or is just not compatible with my lights and I need to order a different dimmer (older model with break off tabs)?
The behaviour you describe sounds more like an incompatible light bulb than a bad switch. Remember that LEDs are complicated things to dim. LEDs run on DC power, so an AC dimmer actually dims the power supply to the bulb. Unless well engineered to react to that by dimming the bulb, flickers can happen.
I always keep around an old incandescent bulb to test situations like this. If the incandescent bulb dims properly, the issue is not your switch. Alternatively, swap bulbs between your working and non-working locations.
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I have found, through installations in 2 homes, that the newest GE dimmers are far less compatible with LEDs than the previous generation. I think they cheaped-out on the internals. (It’s been a while, so I probably remember this wrong, but maybe they used transistors instead of mosfets or something.) The bypass didn’t fix it for me either. The only fix was replacing it with an older generation dimmer. Those are getting harder to purchase though.
Yeah no kidding that they are hard to find. I like the new models size and that they don't get as hot.
Are the Ultra-Pros the same as the GE Enbrighten models, they are both made by GE/Jasco?
Unfortunately I can't easily swap bulbs, as these are LED recessed lights from the get go, not retro fits. I'm going to try and move the switch to another larger group of lights and see if there is any difference.
Just a thought, but since you referred to group of lights … make sure you are not exceeding the max LED load on the switches (much less than the incandescent rating). You’d think it would be unlikely to overload with energy efficient LED lights but they have powerful startup surges.
Yeah that could be an issue normally but I'm going from 2 recessed lights, to a group of 6, so I think that won't be a problem. We'll see though.
FWIW, I have 3 - 12853 dimmers controlling LEDs (1 bulb, 2 bulbs, and 9 bulbs) and, knock on wood, haven't seen that issue. I did, however, need to replace some bulbs as they were not actually 'dimmable'. Make sure that the your lights are truly dimmable and if they are dimmable they cannot the 0-10V dimmable style (they'd have 2 extra wires usually purple and gray) they have to be line dimmable.
