Hey Guys - I have finally been able to work on my Hubitat implementation at new house after following the product and this forum for over a year. I am really excited to finally really get into the beef of the project.
I have a lot of the 2nd generation GE/Jasco Z-Wave dimmer switches which tested out nicely when only a handful of them were installed in the beginning but now present some issues with a household of them. I know some of this has been discussed before but I am trying to figure out if there is an angle that hasn't been explored.
The problem I have is some lights flicker in another part of the house when I turn the lights off in the room I am in. I have gotten around this for the most part by changing the minimum dimmer level to 30/35% on most of the lights in the house but still having some that exhibit this behavior after changing the minimum dimmer level.
When I use the Super Basic Z-Wave Tool I can change one of the parameters to change the dimmer from acting as a dimmer and a switch. When the dimmer is in switch mode - none of the flickering happens when lights are turned on and/or off.
So I am wondering - is there a way to play with the driver to set that parameter (to change into switch mode) through actions called from HE when I request the light to be turned off?
Secondly - can anyone confirm my understanding that there is no way to set parameters (like this dimmer / switch mode) directly via rule machine if there is no function already built to handle that at the device level?
If that is feasible and fast enough I would plan to turn that parameter to switch mode when turning the light off and then possibly putting the parameter back to dimmer mode after the "lights off" action is done... Which in theory would let me still leverage dimming capabilities when desired by way of physical switch or other HE actions.
I've had issues with certain dimmable regular bulbs. I have ge/jasco and I had to go out and buy the sylvanias <- dumb bulbs - so that they didn't do that "flicker" that you're talking about. I think it depends on other things going on, but it is a known issue with some bulbs. Have you approached it from that angle?
Also, there isn't a way to set the switches before you turn them on, but I think you could do it when you turn them off. I "think", you'd have to experiment with it, but if you dim it to 35% and then power off, it might turn on at the same level. I only have this going on in my noggin, though. You'd have to try it.
Yeah I have read all about the flickering issues in general. The bulbs work nicely with dumb dimmers perfectly. I know other people have experienced flickering and had all sorts of ways around it that was why I was seeing what I could find out about the parameter idea.
I have played with what you suggested and if the dimmer set level is set to 35% and then power off - that is what they turn on with - so you are right on that front.
I was hoping to change the dimmer to a switch to power it off completely without the fading which is the source of the flicker based on my experimentation.
ON that thought, you could capture that in maybe a global, but not sure how that would work. I'm not great with variables.
Also, in a rule you don't have to turn on, you can set level and the light will turn on and go to that level. The "on" command is not necessary.
I have the same issue with some Sengled LED strips that faded up with a flicker, and my wife hates it. To "fix" it we set the color and level she wanted with Sengled driver, then switched it to a 'generic bulb driver'. Now we just use the on/off with the generic bulb driver which does not fade on/off.
However this removes the dimming capability unless you change the driver back (we do not use the dimming function, closet lights). If the driver won't let you stop the dimming function that could be an option to play with.
Based on what you're describing, the inovelli that do not require a neutral suggests that you buy a little aeotec device that prevents flicker. I look on their site and don't see it anymore but found it on amazon. I wonder if that would be a solution? I'm not the expert on it, but I just got really curious if this would be a solution.
Cost effectiveness is shaky because you're spending an additional 15$ per switch. I know bulbs can get expensive, but upgrading to the better bulb did it for us. Also got rid of the "ringing" that the lights did when dimmed. It's not the only solution, but I got a box of 4 bulbs for that price. I've been there, it's a frustrating deal. Especially when you just want it to work. So frustrating.
"2nd generation" of the Jasco switches can be a bit confusing. Are you counting the non-ZWave+ generation as generation 1, and therefore yours are ZWave+, but not the latest switches that are 20% smaller and no longer have tabs? Jasco makes it more confusing because they called the older switches Enbrighten as well as the new line of switches. Might be best to just give the model number.
That is truly weird if lights on one switch start flickering when you are turning on/off lights at a totally unrelated switch. I've never seen such a problem described. Flickering lights .. yes .. but not on a different switch.
Find an old incandescent light bulbs or two and do some testing. If they behave normally, then your LED bulbs are not truly dimmable. I really don't think there is anything wrong with your switches, although you might need to factory reset them to go back to a baseline for troubleshooting.
On all of the GE/Jasco switches you can adjust dimming speed. Crank up the %/step to something huge and it basically acts as a switch. (EDIT: those settings aren't exposed on Enbrighten dimmers)
Like this when using my dimmer driver (not sure if you can do it with the in-box driver as I don't use that driver):
You're right. I forgot that they don't list the %/steps on those. I think the settings exist in one of thee zwave parameters, but it isn't documented. Sorry about the confusion there.
EDIT: I took a quick look through the 1st 100 parameter setting slots, and didn't see anything that looked like the old steps / %/step settings. So maybe it isn't hidden in there somewhere.
Should I still experiment with your driver you think? For some reason I assumed the builtin driver was your drive so figured I was using the latest - greatest.
Either way you think these latest GE Enbrighten / Quickfit ones do have those %step/levels in there? Is the only way to "play" with them to just trial and error on with the Super Basic Zwave Tool?
