I have noticed in older threads here and on other automation blogs that a number of people have had problems with random weird flickering with the above dimmers. I have recently changed out a bunch of awful Linear/Nortek/Go Control dimmers (which ALL fail after 5-10 years) to Ultrapro Z-Wave dimmers and was getting the same flicker issue at strange points along the dimming range. After much research I discovered that when Jasco updated the firmware on these devices to 5.54 it caused issues. The solution is to revert the firmware on these devices to 5.53. I've done this on all my problem dimmers and it worked! Smooth dimming again, and no more flicker. Just posting to help out any others who may be having this problem. The 5.53 firmware can be found here:
To revert to 5.53, go to Apps, choose Add Built-in Apps, and select "Device Firmware Updater". Select the firmware you downloaded from Github, and then go back and select "Zwave Firmware update" and follow the prompts to revert to 5.53.
After updating you'll probably have to power cycle the switch (turn breaker off and on) and it could take a while for the switch to be restored in the mesh (I had one switch take an hour). I also had one switch firmware update crash and say it failed to update the driver, but the flicker resolved itslef even though it still indicates firmware 5.54.
The whole thing is very strange and I'm amazed GE/Jasco has not corrected this obviously known issue with the 5.54 firmware.
Hope this helps a few people! The flicker has been a great mystery.
Where are you seeing the firmware version for these dimmers? I have the UltraPro Zwave Dimmer with flickering problem. Selected the GE Enbrighten Zwave Smart Dimmer in device info, but see no indication anywhere of which firmware is in use.
Hubitat doesn't report the firmware version but they're either 5.53 or 5.54. If you're getting flicker they're 5.54. When you run the firmware update built-in app it will confirm which firmware is in use and then ask you to choose the firmware file to replace it with, from uploaded firmware files.
Just to be clear about @cjlist post above the HE device doesn’t report the firmware version but if you install the inbuilt firmware updater app and select one of your dimmers it will tell you the correct firmware version.
Just a warning - the Firmware updater is flakey. You need your phone/device to be very near the switch, and it can take quite a while to update. Also, you may or may not get the association with HE back automatircally. It's been 50/50 for me. Some of the switches did a factory reset after the firmware update so I simply had to do a re-inclusion.
Which file on the linked github do I download? The one ending in ...5.53.otz?
Do you know Jasco just posted new 700 series firmware to that site yesterday? Maybe that is the 5.53; I'm really not clear on how to navigate Github. It confuses me.
How do I download a file to the HE?
I installed the Firmware updater. However I still don't see the firmware version in either the device details or the Firmware updater. How exactly do you see this?
You need the exact model of your switch. It’s listed on the back of the switch and that is what you will use to navigate the GitHub structure and know which file to download and then upload to your hub.
You need the exact model of your switch. It’s listed on the back of the switch and that is what you will use to navigate the GitHub structure and know which file to download and then upload to your hub
Got it. And the instructions you linked included the file types.
THANK YOU!!!!!!
You have no idea how many hours I have spent trying to solve this issue!! I installed two of these dimmers - one works great. The other controls a line voltage dimmable transformer /driver that supplies 12v to LED strip lights, and that is the one that would start flickering when I dimmed it. I thought the issue was the line voltage dimmable transformer setup. Now that I've changed the firmware the dimmer WORKS!!!!
You have absolutely no idea how much you have helped.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Glad you got it working! I also discovered there's now a newer 5.55 driver under the Jasco paddle dimmer in GitHub. It shows up as a fan controller, but I tried it on one dimmer and it seems to work properly with no flicker, but I can't confirm testing over multiple devices.
Update re "Replace". If I do a Z-Wave repair on the device immediately after updating the firmware, it comes back failed. I can then do a refresh and get the option of "replace". If I do a "replace" on the device immediately (no power cycle of hub or switch) the replace works immediately! Just hit replace, then do a physical inclusion on the switch and it's done! Saves a lot of time and hassle switching out the device in each rule or app you have the device attached to.
Also, I discovered that Jasco Firmware version 5.55 is even more stable than 5.53. I was still getting the odd weird blip at 44-46 percent dimming on a couple of switches. With the Jascto 5.55 firmware dimming is perfectly smooth. It reports the device as a fan controller, but you can just change it and it to an Enbrighten Z-Wave dimmer and all is good!
Good to know - thank you. I will refer back to your instructions the next time I update this switch. Appreciate it.
Note that the GitHub site has a bug report for 5.55, stating that the double tap actually turns the light on/off, instead of executing the 2x tap command. Since I use the 2x tap function on the switch on which I had an issue, I'll wait to update until they fix that. In the meantime, the 5.53 is TERRIFIC because it allows dimming down past the 85% or so percent without flickering.
I never use doubl tap for anything (I rarely actually use the physical switches at all). What do you use double tap for? I had a couple of switches that still had this weird flicker spot at around 46%-48% even with 5.53. The update to 5.55 resulted in perfectly smooth dimming up and down from 1% - 100%.
The trigger for my light going on is a motion sensor, and the light goes off after x minutes of no motion.
However, there are times the light just needs to stay on for whatever reason, regardless of whether the motion sensor reports motion.
So 2x tap up to keep the light on, and 2x tap down to end the constant on state and let the motion sensor control the light.
