I haven't seen any real formal reviews about Inovelli's White Dimmer (Matter/Thread; Inovelli White Series 2-1 Smart Switch • Works With HomeKit • Matter) and Hubitat. I know the Blue and Red versions are extremely popular within the community, but I wanted to give it a try. I've got a rarely used guest room as the perfect place to test it out along with three Philips Hue Bulbs connected to a Hue Bridge Pro. I'm using the White Dimmer in Smart Bulb Mode for the test as I've been looking for a switch that has the ability. I use Lutron everyone else in the house except in places where I want Hue Bulbs. I wanted to try to the White version as I'm really trying to utilize Matter where I can. This is an Apple Home, Google Home, and Hubitat household with a preference for direct connections when possible.
Overall verdict is that it works exactly how I want it and fits a perfect niche for the smart home I'm designing at home. Is it as fully featured as the Red or Blue? No, but I think that is perfectly okay. It does the basics really well for my needs (Smart Bulb Mode, Notification LED Bar, Matter).
If you have any questions, please let me know as I'll answer them the best that I can.
Great question. I used Apple Home to bring the dimmer into Hubitat. My thread network contains two Apple TVs, 3 Google Nest WiFi Pros, and 3 Google Nest Hub Maxes all merged into a single network. The closest boarder router is probably two or so rooms over (30ish feet) and has to go through three walls to reach the switch.
I'm glad to hear it. I will note, that you might want to hold off on actually using the White's in Hubitat for the time being especially if you are using Smart Bulb Mode. There are some subscription and event issues with button presses that will be fixed once the current Beta comes into production. I'm in the Beta right now testing the updates and these switches are now working incredibly well with the fixes. If you are using them as dimmers for normal bulbs, you should have zero issues with them right now.
I only have Hue smart bulbs, and don't use Dimmers with those.
I mostly use the various Inovellis for notifications, so my great hope is that the notifications methods ultimately match the Blues... VZ* red and blue models.
The Whites will be slightly different because of Matter compared to Zigbee. Ultimately, the LED Bar will be a RGBW child device of the main parent (similar to how the custom driver in the first post does it) rather than an all in one device like the Blues. Personally, I prefer the child device approach with the LED as it makes setting up rules significantly easier.
Oh, the child device is fine, that part is easy. I just prefer the led notification implementation on the newer VZ* models (Red and Blue)...example:
For the White:
setLevel('95') on DNR Pendant LED Notification Bar
setSaturation('97') on DNR Pendant LED Notification Bar
setHue('2') on DNR Pendant LED Notification Bar
For the Blues VZ* models:
ledEffectAll('5', '225', '50', '255') on KIT Island Pendant (VZM31-SN) on Hub-4, KIT Counter Lights & Presence (VZM32-SN) on Hub-4, BMT Office Pots (VZW31-SN), FMR Fan and Lights (VZM31-SN) on Hub-4
Of course, while I'm wishing, having the ledEffectAll command exposed when these type switches are grouped would be brilliant too...lol
@JB10 OK, I see the new driver. Question. Do I need to delete the child devices, change to device, wipe the states, then select the Inovelli Matter Dimmer driver and Configure? Or are the existing Cildren OK as they are?
Yes. Generally when I switch drivers, I’ll clear out the old states before starting fresh with the new. What firmware are your switches? I’m pretty sure the built in works for 1.0.5 but needs updating for 1.1.1 or higher.
Lemme check. I tried the delete all approach, and it didn't create the children. Had to remove the device, then reshare it over Matter, then it picked up the Matter Toolbox drivers instead of the inbuilt.
I’m not sure if the built in supports a child device for the LED Bar. I’m running a self created driver for mine that are on the 1.1.1 that creates a child. I’d be curious how the your experience goes with the built in.
I'm on 1.05. Unfortunately, I can't find any way to update it. I initially Joined it via the Zemismart M1, then shared it over Matter to Hubitat, HASS & Ikea, and none show an update link.
I'm using the driver you linked to above...the device picked it up instead of the inbuilt when I removed it, then reshared it.
So...so far, I can't tell if the inbuilt creates a child or not! Lol
Per Inovelli’s forums, Home Assistant should be getting the update this week maybe early next. After that should be Apple Home and Smartthings as they are looking to do stage rollouts. I joined their Beta and got it via Apple Home. If you look in their firmware changelog, there are directions on how to update, but it’s probably worth waiting until it’s official.
As for switching to the built in, that’s fairly straightforward even if the wrong driver is initially selected:
Change the driver to “Device” on the Device info page.
Hit configure on the commands page.
clear out everything by selecting all of the options
Fo back to the device info page and select the built in driver. I think it is just “Inovelli Matter Dimmer”
Go back to the commands page and hit configure.
Those steps will get you on to the built in driver.
