Z-Stick Gen5 With GE Z-Wave Dimmers Help

Configuration Z-Wave
1

I recently purchased a Z-Stick Gen5 and paired it with my 3 GE In Wall Dimmers.

The devices show up with the entity ids:
light.ge_unknown_type4944_id3033_level_2_0
light.ge_unknown_type4944_id3033_level_3_0
light.ge_unknown_type4944_id3033_level_4_0

When toggling the devices off the lights themselves shut completely off, but home assistant still shows their status as On and about 33% dim level. After some research, I am pretty sure the problem has something to do with the lights fading off.

I have attempted to use some solutions I have found online with no luck, my config is listed below:

Z-Wave

zwave:
usb_path: /dev/ttyACM0
config_path: /srv/homeassistant/homeassistant_venv/lib/python3.4/site-packages/libopenzwave-0.3.1-py3.4-linux-armv7l.egg/config
polling_interval: 30000

#individual light config in separate file
light.ge_unknown_type4944_id3033_level_2_0:
polling_intensity: 1
refresh_value: true
delay: 5
friendly_name: Kitchen Ceiling Lights

Oddly, I previously borrowed a Z-Stick Gen2 from a friend and had no problems with it.
Any other recommendations? Thanks!

1 Like
2

Are these a new version of the GE dimmer switch? Can you tell me the model? Mine are 12724.

If you want to have them not show up as “unknown”, you can add an entry to:

/srv/homeassistant/homeassistant_venv/lib/python3.4/site-packages/libopenzwave-0.3.1-py3.4-linux-armv7l.egg/config/manufacturer_specific.xml

Right below:

<Product type="4944" id="3031" name="12724 3-Way Dimmer Switch" config="ge/12724-dimmer.xml"/>

That looks like this - (replacing 12724 with whatever the model number is of your switch):

<Product type="4944" id="3033" name="12724 3-Way Dimmer Switch" config="ge/12724-dimmer.xml"/>

This should at least get it to be recognized as the 12724 - I’m not sure what other features your dimmer supports.

Here’s an automation that I use for mine that gives me an input_slider in HASS to control the dimmer with:


#input_slider for theater lights

input_slider:
   media_room_brightness:
    name: Brightness
    initial: 20
    min: 0
    max: 254
    step: 1
    icon: mdi:brightness-6

- alias: Media Room Theater Lights - Adjust Brightness
  hide_entity: True
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: input_slider.media_room_brightness
  action:
    - service: light.turn_on
      data_template:
        entity_id: light.ge_12724_3way_dimmer_switch_level_11_0
        brightness: '{{ trigger.to_state.state | int }}'

Hope that helps!

1 Like
3

Thank you for the response! Ill get the version number this evening after work and also give your suggestions a try.

4

Actually after checking online, I’m pretty sure the model number is 12729.

5

Oh, it’s the same as the 12724, then, just not paddle-style.

Let me know how my suggestions work and I’ll submit the change to python-openzwave so it’s recongnized in the future.

6

So your suggestion worked to get the device to show up with a proper name. I just had to change the value to 12729 and also the id to 3033. I also went ahead and created a new config file ‘ge/12729-dimmer.xml’ that is identical to ge/12724-dimmer.xml just for good measure.

As far as the odd behavior and the light status updates nothing has changed. I was hoping actually having a config file for the device would help.

Flipping the off switch in hass turns the physical lights off but hass shows an odd state. I have attached an image below.

Thank you for your help!

7

That’s not really that odd - The brightness is what will it will be set to when you turn it back on. The automation/input_slider I provided above will put the brightness control on the HASS page, as well.

GE dimmers are kind of funny in HASS. There are some other threads in the forums that explain the limitations.

8

Sorry I didn’t explain more. When I do flip the switch back to on nothing happens until I go off then on again. I may just write an automation to turn the lights state to off a second time. Thanks.

9

That is certainly strange - I don’t think I’ve seen that problem on my side, but I’ll have to test when I get home. That particular switch in my house is on theater lights, so it’s mostly only used with automations (motion sensor).

10

@Kirch21

I had to adding the customize line helped me…

zwave:
  usb_path: /dev/ttyACM0
  config_path: /usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/libopenzwave-0.3.1-py3.5-linux-i686.egg/config
  customize:
    light.linear_lb60z1_dimmable_led_light_bulb_level_3_0:
      polling_intensity: 1
      refresh_value: true
1 Like
11

Wow thanks for you help. I finally got it working! I had found your solution online in other places, but I kept putting the customization under the entity ID customization for each dimmer switch, not under the zwave itself. Thanks!

2 Likes
12

Good to hear - I’ve submitted a PR for OpenZwave to have the 12729 recognized (and treated like the 12724).

1 Like
13

@PtP Thank you. This resolved my issue with the GE 14294 dimmer switches.

1 Like
14

This halfway resolved similar issues that I was having with my GE 45602 wall dimmer module where it wasn’t consistently reporting state correctly after toggling the lamp on/off with the Aeotec Z-stick 5.

However, I’m still having the following issues:

  • toggling the lamp off shuts it off before it flashes back on for split second and then off again… which is jarring and a bit annoying.
  • the dimmer portion of this component does not work. Dragging the slider down just shuts the lamp off once it hits a certain threshold.
  • the home assistant toggle UI takes a second or so to reflect the lamp’s actual state (less of an issue since i don’t plan on using the UI much)

I have to rule out any issues with the module itself because all of these things worked when paired to my gen 1 smartthings hub earlier today.

15

toggling the lamp off shuts it off before it flashes back on for split second and then off again… which is jarring and a bit annoying.

I have put in a feature request to add optimistic mode to the zwave component. This should help the behavior we are seeing and lessen the need to add polling for each GE devices, at least in the UI where the switch flips back to the previous state. Please vote for it if you think that might improve your situation.

1 Like
16

Would love to have this feature added… there are lots of threads about this issue, so it seems it would help a lot of people.