Issues with Fibaro dimmers

[barthompson 0]

All,

I currently have 4 Fibaro dimmers set up in my house. However, I get very odd behaviour from all of them. If I use the switch attached to the S1 port which should just turn the lights connected to the dimmer on and off (ie without the need of any z-wave wireless communication), it is very intermittent. The switch actually only correctly turns on/turns off the lights about half of the time. Sometimes they work first time, sometimes it takes 3 or 4 switches to get a repsonse.

Confusingly, operating the dimmers wirelesly (with z-wave commands) works every time. More confusingly, several of my dimmers I have set up associations with other dimmers so that flicking a switch will should turn on the lights connected to that dimmer as well as another dimmer. Annoyingly, it often turns the other dimmers lights on but not its own. Very frustrating! Therefore, as a minimum, I conclude the dimmers themselves are connected up properly to the lighting wiring.

In case it is relevant, here is a quick explanation of my wiring: Living in the UK (and therefore without a neutral wire behind the switch), I have a live wire and a switched-live wire connected to the 'L' and 'O' ports respectively on the dimmer and have a jumper lead connecting the 'N' and 'O' ports.

I then have two switches connected up to the 'S1' and 'S2' ports both of which are fed power from the 'S0' port.

I have tried several dimmers with both monostable and bistable swtiches (altering the relevant variable on the dimmer in each case). But the problem persists with both type of swtich.

I decided to investigate a bit further. So I used a screwdriver with a voltage detector bulb inside it and noticed there was voltage at the 'S1' and S2' ports even when I had the switch selected to off. I thought this was very odd, but didnt necessarily know if it was wrong.

Has anyone else had the same issues as me? Anyone any ideas why my dimmers are so temperamental?

Many thanks in advance

[nono240 0]

Just noticed similar issues with my FGD-211. I'm unable to use the switches, but RF commands are working flawlessly.

I'll try to disconnect the switch from Sx, to connect it to L.

Below, a copy of the support email I sent few hours ago (sorry for my approximative english) :

I currently have 3 FGD-211 (CFL, 12v halogen, and incandescent) setup in my house, and since I was very pleased with them, I bought 7 more for the remainings rooms. My wiring is "2 wire only" because of missing neutral.

I was very confident since the lamps were all incendescents and/or 220v halogens : I successfully installed 5 of them, but I stopped because of odd behavior. Right after installation, everything was running smoothly : on/off and dimming from both the monostable switch and the zwave controller.

Few hours later, my wife noticed that the lights were'nt working at all : pressing the switch was no effect, on 4 of the 5 installed. By long pressing, the light *sometimes* turn on at 100% (immediately!) but, then, we can't turn it off. Long pressing may dim the light progressively at its lower level, but we can't turn it off completely. Sometimes, after several push, the light *may* turn off (or on). This is VERY intermittent. Confusingly, operating the dimmers wirelesly (with z-wave commands) works every time.

I noticed that switching off the whole house power may *temporarily* make them working again, but not every time.

The switches are mono-stable, and correctly wired to Sx/S1 with short wire (4cm). Parameters 14 is set to default (0). Firmware is 1.9. It seems the modules aren't able to detect presses. I even tried to connect Sx/S1 by hand, with no luck. The lamps are all incandescents and/or 220v halogens, so it should work flawlessly.

I'm somewhat stucked, and I don't want to throw my money off. The 3 first modules are working flawlessly, but what is the cause of malfunctionning of the latests?

Should I remove the wire from Sx, and connect it to L instead? Should I add a capacitor/resistor somewhere between S1 and L or N as a pull-down? I'm an electronic engineer, I'm skilled enough.

I noticed a similar customer having similar issues on the forum, but my account is still waiting for approval..

Please advise, my wife is getting crazy (and not only because of the money!)

[Guest Kuuno]

what is your parameter nr 14 in advanced settings of dimmer module?

also

"I then have two switches connected up to the 'S1' and 'S2' ports both of which are fed power from the 'S0' port. "

you mean Sx ?

can you send a picture from connected dimmer?

regards

[smartronix 0]

All,

I currently have 4 Fibaro dimmers set up in my house. However, I get very odd behaviour from all of them. If I use the switch attached to the S1 port which should just turn the lights connected to the dimmer on and off (ie without the need of any z-wave wireless communication), it is very intermittent. The switch actually only correctly turns on/turns off the lights about half of the time. Sometimes they work first time, sometimes it takes 3 or 4 switches to get a repsonse.

Confusingly, operating the dimmers wirelesly (with z-wave commands) works every time. More confusingly, several of my dimmers I have set up associations with other dimmers so that flicking a switch will should turn on the lights connected to that dimmer as well as another dimmer. Annoyingly, it often turns the other dimmers lights on but not its own. Very frustrating! Therefore, as a minimum, I conclude the dimmers themselves are connected up properly to the lighting wiring.

In case it is relevant, here is a quick explanation of my wiring: Living in the UK (and therefore without a neutral wire behind the switch), I have a live wire and a switched-live wire connected to the 'L' and 'O' ports respectively on the dimmer and have a jumper lead connecting the 'N' and 'O' ports.

I then have two switches connected up to the 'S1' and 'S2' ports both of which are fed power from the 'S0' port.

I have tried several dimmers with both monostable and bistable swtiches (altering the relevant variable on the dimmer in each case). But the problem persists with both type of swtich.

I decided to investigate a bit further. So I used a screwdriver with a voltage detector bulb inside it and noticed there was voltage at the 'S1' and S2' ports even when I had the switch selected to off. I thought this was very odd, but didnt necessarily know if it was wrong.

Has anyone else had the same issues as me? Anyone any ideas why my dimmers are so temperamental?

Many thanks in advance

Hi Bart,

To measure on the wiring or dimmer you cannot use that screwdriver with the lightbulb in it because you're measuring inductance with it. For a reliable measurement always measure between 2 points i.e. between N and S1. Use a duspol or voltmeter for this.

To help you, we need the type of lights you use, how many behind 1 dimmer and powerusage per light.

Good luck!

Grtz. Emiel

[JohnnyC 7]

Can you also verify that the reason you have two switches (S1 and S2) is because it is a "2-way" lighting setup and that you have adjusted parameter 17 to suit this?

Unless you are using monostable switches and have wired up the dimmer in parallel, any two way setups (including both monostable and bistable) require the "Stair Switch" function to be "on". If you are wiring the devices in parallel you would not be using the S2 terminal at all

The association groupings (group 1 and group 2) for the dimmers are specific to S1 and S2 so your switch setup will also determine which devices are associated.

The above is driven from my best guess relating to the problems described, but if the stair switch function was not turned on, the S2 switch would not turn on the connected light (ever), but would turn on associated devices in group 2. This is assuming you are not wiring up monostable switches in parallel

[nono240 0]

BIG update for me (

Please login or register to see this link.

) -> Do you tried to exclude your modules from the Z-Wave controller? Once excluded, guess what, the monostable buttons are now working again. The problem only appears after inclusion. I made some videos.

[Ginko 0]

Set your dimmers to bi-stable (P.14 must be 1)

While just messing around, I changed parameter 10 to 0 (so the dimmer doesnt move smoothly between light levels). This has suddenly increased the reliability of the dimmers materially. Ill test them for a few days and report back...

EDIT: P10 to 0 then

Please login or register to see this image.

/emoticons/default_biggrin.png" alt=":D" srcset="https://forum.fibaro.com/uploads/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> (works)

[nono240 0]

Set your dimmers to bi-stable (P.14 must be 1)

Stop asking to change P14

Please login or register to see this image.

/emoticons/default_icon_smile.gif" alt=":-)" /> He already tried with both monostable and bistable, "altering the relevant variable accordingly"

I can't remember how many time I see this kind of answer regarding FGD-211 threads

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/emoticons/default_icon_razz.gif" alt=":-P" />

[barthompson 0]

While just messing around, I changed parameter 10 to 0 (so the dimmer doesnt move smoothly between light levels). This has suddenly increased the reliability of the dimmers materially. Ill test them for a few days and report back...

[ivan.ruban 3]

I changed parameter 10 to 0...This has suddenly increased the reliability of the dimmers

I actually also noticed that P10=0 brings more stability for dimmers. Especially what relates to 3-click problem on S2. So I put P10=0 for all my dimmers for a long time ago.

Nevertheless I have another issue. When I press on S1 to dim the light, sometimes nothing happens. And I need to press two more times on S1 to start dimming. Seems like there is also a variation of 3-click problem on S1.

[StarkJohan 6]

I don't like the "hard" dimming. To have the soft, original, dimming you can always set parameter 41 to active and handle clicks in a scene. This removes the 3-click issue and makes the dimmers work properly, although a slight delay will be introduced (while the dimmer wait for clicks to determine what action to call).