I may have created a mess. The goal is to have a Zigbee or Zwave dimmer that will dim my undercab LED strips. The dimmer must not require a battery, and it needs to be no thicker than 1.2" deep to fit in the shallow box under the cabinets (that already sticks down more than desired..)
Based on the understanding (perhaps incorrect) that all Zigbee and Zwave dimmers need line level power to operate, I designed the wiring for my low voltage undercab LED strips to be controlled by a line voltage switch. It goes like this:
Line voltage -> Line voltage switch -> Dimmable Transformer that steps it down to 12v and is supposed to be able to be dimmable -> 12v LED Lights
Specifically, it is the below setup with a Magnitude Lighting E60L12DC-KO transformer:
Is there a Zwave or Zigbee dimmer I could connect to control this?
Apparently none of these will work:
Ultra Pro (Jasco?) 54897. This is currently installed but I can only dim from about 100% down to 80%. Any lower than that and the LED strip starts flickering very noticeably. 80% is not very dim.
Zooz - I wrote to Zooz and gave them the info about the above transformer, and they replied that none of their dimmers work with dimmable transformers because the transformer itself is a type of dimmer.
Inovelli Blue or newer 800 series Red - Their community discussions make it clear neither of these switches can be connected to a transformer. All of their other switches are far too thick.
So is there any Zigbee or Zwave dimmer (that does not require a battery and is thin) that I can install under the cabinet that will work with this setup? I am open to rewiring this if needed - I have some limited options as most of the wires are accessible in the crawl space.
I have some of my LED Strip lights on a dimmable controller and this has worked well for me. Doesn’t require a switch, but can be controlled by a dimmer like Inovelli’s blue 2-1 that will bound directly to it, so it will dim up and down with the switch without the controller being physically connected to it.
Can you please clarify "without the controller being physically connected to it?"
What is the switch connected to? Is there some way to install an Inovelli (or other brand) switch so that it is not connected to any particular load, but receives line power so it will work?
After that, I sort of get that you would connect the zigbee/zwave function to this controller you linked, and this controller is on the 12 v side and dims on that side from the zigbee / zwave signal. But is there a way to make the primary switch function control that - ie single click for off and on, and press and hold for dimming up/down? I know how to use Inovelli buttons to control other devices, but I thought that was only for double & triple click, etc.
If you want a Dimmer on a line voltage side you must use a Dimmable Transformer and
any line voltage Dimmer should work. Also you can use just one channel from any
RGB low voltage controller.
The Inovelli dimmer/switch needs to be connected to a 120v power source, but connecting a load to it is not required. It can be either bound directly to another Zigbee (for the blue series) or Z-Wave (for the Red series) device or dimmed/turned on/off via rules in Hubitat.
It will work for turning on/off and dimming. (I have a few applications of this.)
In this setup, the controller is connected to a 12v power source.
The transformer I have is dimmable.
The UltraPro Zwave does not work well
Inovelli & Zooz say their Zwave & Zigbee dimmers will not work because the dimmable transformer is essentially a dimmer.
Can you please explain "use just one channel from any RGB low voltage controller?"
I am using few Dimmable Transformers (forgot what brand it is) with regular dimmers
without any problems.
Any low voltage RGB controllers are nothings more than 3 channels dimmers.
Nothings prevents you from using just one channel. Say, connect your strip to R channel
and then control only R channel brightness.
Thank you! So to clarify, I need a zigbee or zwave device on the 12v side that is capable of accepting not only the zwave signal, but that is also capable of dimming? Like the device you linked. The way you explained it makes sense.
Zooz recommended a Zen 31
but they said to pair it with a ZAC99 momentary non zwave switch on the 12v side. However the published dimensions of the ZAC99 indicate it is too deep for my condition, and I prefer to keep switches that look like line voltage switch on line voltage. Your Inovelli solution would also potentially allow me to use their new presence sensor at this location. I wonder if I can use the Inovelli with Zen31? The Zen31 says it is to be manually controlled from an on/off or momentary wall switch so maybe not...but maybe that only applies to the low voltage side. From what I gather from your post, if i use the Inovelli switch on the line voltage side without a load, physical interaction with the switch just sends a signal to Hubitat, so the control is entirely through Hubitat and not Inovelli switch just acts like a physical button.
This is very cool!
Can you clarify if by "Regular Dimmer" you mean dumb dimmers? Or are you using smart zigbee or zwave dimmers? If so I would really appreciate learning which brand & model
Any low voltage RGB controllers are nothings more than 3 channels dimmers.
Nothings prevents you from using just one channel. Say, connect your strip to R channel
and then control only R channel brightness.
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Got it. I think that is what Zooz was suggesting I do with their Zen31 device.
hmm. Ok I've tried the UltraPro and it does not work for dimming. On/off works fine. Inovelli & Zooz say theirs won't work.
So if you are willing to share which model of Zigbee or Zwave dimmer switch you are using that lets you do full dimming, and which model dimmable 12v transformer, I'd appreciate it.
I am using 3 of these dimmable transformers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BLCW2M1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They are 24V, not 12V. I am not sure if 12V version is available.
For the Dimmers I am using different zigbee and zwave models. One is GE Embrighten.
Another one is older whatever Zooz. Basically all triac based dimmers are the same.
I guss, the key component is a Dimmable Transformer. They are very different.
