Jasco Z-wave wall dimmer switch that does NOT need a neutral wire

Finally a Z-wave switch for older homes!

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As I doubt anyone will understand what you are referring to, here's the link.

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Thanks for posting the link!

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Oh, and it is zwave 700 - for those of you that care about that. :slight_smile:

Just don't expect it to EVER be upgraded to Zwave LR... historically speaking, Jasco never gives out firmware updates post release.

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Personally I prefer the Inovelli....

https://inovelli.com/products/switches/

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Way to thread crap. Lol

I guess GE supporters should go on all the inovelli threads and randomly say how they prefer GE. :wink:

Not sure what the point of that was.

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:sunglasses: always nice to have choices.... and to add a counterpoint to:

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We know how bears are, they "go" where they want to. :wink:

But @thebearmay - I do appreciate your reminder that Inovelli also has a couple dimmers that don't require a neutral. :slight_smile:

I have several places in my house where I have early Mesozoic wiring that lacks a neutral, so a few of these will be on my shopping list at some point.

@JasonJoel and @thebearmay - any experience w/these no-neutal dimmers that indicates they really "just work" consistently?

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None on my side, I have neutrals everywhere (newer houses), so haven't had to dig into that area much.

Lucky guy...ours is late 60's. So while is has that cool hippie vibe, the areas we haven't remodeled are still in the dark ages. I think as an impressive contributor to the HE community you should reverse-update a bedroom in your home w/non-neutral wiring so you can test for us. :smiley:

This looks pretty good in terms of specs. IRRC I've seen talk about low loads causing problems w/flickering, 2W seems like a good low-end watts number from that perspective.

Certified to properly function at a low minimum wattage – tested as low as 2W

I've got a couple of the Innovelli on order. This Jasco looks just as good on paper and is $5 cheaper (depending on supplier, as always). I am in an older house, so I'll probably end up trying both, and may eventually have a preference :slight_smile:.

Does this Jasco have the minimum load requirement I've seen on some no-neutral devices? I once understood for about 5 minutes why they did, but am not prepared to try to explain it now! I don't find it on the page linked, but haven't downloaded the full docs and looked there.

I believe that's the 2W minimum I posted above from the Jasco site specs. The full statement below:

  • No-neutral dimming – Certified to properly function at a low minimum wattage – tested as low as 2W – the dimmer fully controls most fixtures without requiring a neutral wire. Adjusting brightness levels of dimmable LEDs and CFLs as well as incandescent and halogen lights from 0-100% cuts energy costs and improves bulb life.
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I have the Inovelli installed in both neutral and non-neutral locations (newer addition to the house has neutral) and both work very well. Only issue I had was when I swapped out halogen bulbs for LED and dropped one non-neutral circuit below the minimum current draw and switch would become unresponsive and the lights would keep flickering - resolved it by installing an Aeotec bypass per Inovelli instructions.

Very happy with their products and the wife keeps looking for new places that I can install them...:sunglasses:

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Thanks for the info. You're lucky, my wife has never asked for more home automation.

Do you remember what the minimum load spec is for the Inovelli?

Ah, found this in a discussion on the Inovelli site:

Inovelli says that it the Neutral wire is optional, but that you would need a bypass if bulbs are less than 40W.

So that's significantly higher than the Jasco 2W spec, unless I'm misunderstanding something the Jasco will work w/much lower load.

EDIT: Actual minimum load from specs found by @thebearmay appears to be 25W.

And here's another entrant in the no-neutral dimmer sweepstakes: Qubino Z-Wave ZMNHHD3.

This is a small dimmer module, for burying behind a switch or up in the fixture junction box or somewhere; but surprisingly often one can get the same effect with a module or with a switch. It does have a low limit on controlled power—65W LED, 90W incandescent. There are places this won't cut it, including one I'd probably like to use it, sigh.

(For those of us who enjoy the Web Page Follies—note that the Amazon URL has "neutral required" in it; missing the "no", which is important. Since both the product description and the text describing it later on are very explicit about "no neutral required", and also "no minimum load", I'm fairly confident that the actual product does not require a neutral, and this is just an unfortunate automated shortening of the product name for the URL.)

Their documentation says 25W without a bypass, 6W with. Most LED draw around 8-12W each.

And BTW

They do indeed :rofl:

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Thanks...I saw a post on the Inovelli site saying 40W, but thanks for correcting w/the info from the specs.

So Jasco "wins" that one w/a 2W minimum, especially as my application will be for a single LED light on the switch. All my other stuff is Jasco/GE/Honeywell so it looks like that will continue w/these for my non-neutral locations. Have to get one to try it out!

Here's an Amazon link (w/free shipping) for those who may be trying one like me. Jasco charges for shipping for orders under $50.

https://www.amazon.com/Enbrighten-52252-Smart-Dimmer-Almond/dp/B08WJLCY3K/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=Enbrighten+52252+Smart+Dimmer%2C+White+%26+Light+Almond&qid=1613840785&sr=8-5

Which, it shouldn't be noted, historically do get firmware updates. Of course, their current switches and dimmers are not 700-series (only the fan controller and LED strip controller), so the whole Z-Wave LR thing isn't applicable here. But I thought your post was appropriate regardless given the comments on firmware updates that took place right before. I promise not to complain if someone says they prefer GE in a thread someone started about Inovelli. :wink:

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Oops, so you did. Thank you for doing it twice, and being nice to me about missing the first time :slight_smile:.

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