Greetings,
Several of the rooms in my house the “light switch” on the wall doesn’t control a light. It controls one or more power outlets. I did some looking around and found that the Zooz ZEN30 can do this, but only on the tiny button switch at the bottom. I bought one to test. The largest paddle was unused. I used Home Assistant to trigger on the large paddle to turn the light on and off - however, it’s a two second delay to do so compared to using the tiny button at the bottom. Over-all, it “works” but it hasn’t earned high ratings from the family on the one room I’m testing it out on…
I haven’t found another US z-wave switch where it clearly says it can work with power outlets. Can someone recommend one please?
I know it should be quick… but for whatever reason it isn’t.
Some of the Jasco (GE) switches are ambiguous in their manual if they will work or not. So I sent them an email asking.
[edit] also sent an email to NuTone. Will update if either company responds.
You need a Z-wave switch that can be changed from dimmer mode to relay mode. For Enbrighten they are generally described as switch or dimmer. Many devices can do both. Just look at the details for the device.
Relay mode is required as you don’t know what could potentially be plugged into the outlet that would not react well to a dimming circuit.
You don’t need associations as suggested above as the switch already controls the power to the outlet. You would have to rewire the outlet portion of the switch to bypass the switch for 2 z-wave devices and associations to make sense.
I believe that the reason why you can’t find a switch rated to work with power outlets in the USA is that it is prohibited by either NEC or UL, since there’s no way to guarantee that an inductive load (like a motor) would never be plugged into an outlet. Feel free to check my aging memory…
You won’t find anything that clearly says they can work with outlets, as that’s too narrowly scoped a use case which doesn’t address the actual load. They will discuss what types of loads the switch is designed for.
Here’s one GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Plus Smart Switch with QuickFit™ and SimpleWire™, White (enbrightenme.com) that supports multiple resistive and inductive loads including fans and pumps up to 1800W.
Broan NuTone essentially said that the products that would support an electrical outlet are all out of support and no longer being sold. Any of their devices sold are considered discontinued and unsupported.
Jasco did not respond. However, a source that has sold and used their products did respond that the Jasco SKU: 58433 (a switch) would be more then sufficient for house hold use. I’ve ordered one for testing to see how well I like it.
Thank you so much for all of the responses and help!