GE Z-Wave Dimmer Ramp Rates

I am not seeing anywhere to change ramp rates on the GE Z-Wave Dimmers. In ST there was a user created driver for changing ramp rates both in software and for physical button presses. Am I missing something here?

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There's a driver in the Hubitat github titled basi z wave tool. Allows you to pull or modify any param on a Zwave device. Just have to know which one it is. I used it to change my GE dimmer.

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Here's a list of the Jasco parameters

https://www.ezzwave.com/advanced-operation/

It shows dimming steps and timing, but is this the same as the on/off ramp rate?

Just tested and it works great! Parameter 9, size 1, value 99. Parameter 10, size 1, value 1. This effectively make the dimmer behave like a switch with physical presses.

**edit - this pretty much eliminates the ability to manually dim lights. Going back to default values. Good to know it's possible though :+1:

I think parameters 7 and 8 would take care of the digital on/off commands too, did not test.

Yes! you guys are amazing. That worked. You can still use the slider in the dashboard to change the dim level and use Alexa to specify a dim level. I just needed the physical switch to function like a switch and not a dimmer.

Thanks.

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I've used the Basic Z-Wave Tool device driver to change the ramp rates & steps on my z-wave dimmers but I'm not sure if I'm using it correctly. I set the device type to Basic Z-Wave Tool, make my changes and set the device type back. Is that the right process?

Thanks, Glenn

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Yup.

I think as long as you don't hit configure it should not change any settings after you switch device types. Then again if the stock device type you switch back to does not modify those settings, then maybe it wouldn't matter.

Also some custom device drivers will give you the settings, with my Leviton dimmers I use a custom device type that allows me to basically configure any setting for the dimmer.

Should the same parameters apply for 14291 and 14294 smart switch and dimmers? I want to make my dimmer ramp up in about 1 second instead of going instant on when turned on by HE for motion, so I went in and set parameter 7 to 20 which by my calculation should give a ramp up time of about 600ms with parameter 8 set to 3. But it still seems to turn on instantly.

No need to guess - you can go look (link below)... Pretty much all zwave devices have published Configuration Parameters on the zwave alliance webpage.

You may be astounded by some of the things devices can do that aren't exposed in the built-in HE driver... For instance the 14294 support Double Tap commands (like a scene controller) if configured correctly (and a driver that supports this installed in HE).

That is why I WISH that HE would publish their in-box drivers. Then if we wanted just ONE of the excluded features, we could easily add it with much lower risk of a bad driver messing up the system. For instance my custom 14294 driver that does support all parameters doesn't work over hub link - some refresh issue probably. Don't know why, as it works perfectly in ST. If I could see the HE in-box one, I could fix the custom one in probably <5 minutes...

Anyway... Back to your question:

14291: It isn't a dimmer, so no adjustable dimmer rates on this... Product Configuration Capabilities
14294: Product Configuration Capabilities

Remember there are 3 sets of dimmer settings, not 1. Digital, physical, and all on/off. The all on/off isn't used much, though,

Make sure you are changing the right one for the type of on/off command you are using. If you only do 7 & 8, that has nothing to do with behavior when turned on/off at the wall switch.

Param 7 = Digital dimming # of steps (1-99)
Param 8 = Digital timing for steps (1-255)
Param 9 = Manual/physical dimming # of steps (1-99)
Param 10 = Manual/physical timing for steps (1-255)
Param 11 = ALL ON/OFF dimming # of steps (1-99)
Param 12 = ALL ON/OFF timing for steps (1-255)

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Thanks Jason, Yep I just wanted the digital On ramp to slow down a bit, so I set # of steps to 20 and left timing at 30ms. I couldn't detect any difference. I double checked the parameter was still set after switching back to the generic smart dimmer driver and avoided clicking Configure. I'll try some more extreme settings later to see whats going on. Hopefully the built-in drivers will evolve with time to support all the tricks the devices are capable of like double tap and ramp.

I wouldn't bet on the built-in drivers changing much, but I would be happy to be wrong. I think I figured out the delay/sync issue on my 14294 driver this morning. So I'll likely release it sometime in the next few weeks - depending on when I get time to test/completely finish it.

Could always try something REALLY long just to make sure the parameters actually work... like set parameter 8 to 200. :smile:

Interested in trying your driver when it is ready assuming it would also work for a 12729?

I prefer slow dim rates. With the 12729 if you issue a set level command it will always instantly go to the level, ignoring dim rates. In ST I had pistons that I used to avoid sending set level commands whenever possible. I would issue a set level command the first time a light went on in each mode and use a boolean to then only issue "on" commands (which honor dim rates) until a mode changed. I'm currently converting my stuff to rule machine to achieve the same results. But I'd still like to slow the dim rates in certain rooms.

The 12729 is the non zwave plus version, and doesn't support many custom parameters. Likely will not work.

If it was the 14295 or jasco 14322 it would work.

I was able to change the dim rate using an ST driver. I just haven't been able to find a driver to do it yet in HE.

I would use the basic z-wave tool to set dim rate parameters on the device itself.

You very well may be able to do it in a driver by intercepting the setLevel command that comes without a duration setting and putting a duration in it via code. Should work. Obviously that doesn't help you when turning on/off from the physical switch though.

In any case, I don't have any non Zwave-Plus devices to test on, so you are on your own here.

I don't think the non Z-Wave Plus dimmers HAVE adjustable settings... I think only the Z-Wave Plus ones do (?). I think that is why it was done at the driver level in ST.

Sorry, what I meant was using a DTH to set the parameters and then switching back to a regular DTH.

Unless I'm misremembering I definitely did this in ST with the same dimmer.

Ah. Well you can still do that. Switch to the basic z-wave tool driver, change parameters, change driver back, hit configure.

I have had very little luck with the built in-dimmer delay settings, but I use the physical button a lot and those work a little differently.