Aeotec Aeon Nano Dimmer

Hello all.

I have a half dozen aeotec micro dimmers installed. Work fine with custom DH or even the generic ST dimmer device types. Lights are controllable. On off and dim.

Gangs are tight and some cans flicker. So I’ve been waiting on the Nano dimmers. Delivered yesterday.

I’ve installed them in several gangs with several lights. Lights that previously dimmed. The new nano dimmer doesn’t appear to dim any light in any configuration. I’ve swapped device types etc. No beuno.

Any suggestions???

Could try checking the logs for what’s happening when you try to dim when it’s set to a z-wave dimmer or other DTH. Always possible there was a pairing issue, but if it’s every dimmer not that likely I guess.

Where did you order the nano dimmers from?

Edit: do the nano dimmers turn on/off? Or do nothing?

Edit 2: it looks like they’re on amazon now. That’s good news, it’s been taking aeotec forever to release them.

Thanks for the reply. Got them from Amazon.

They turn off and on and will even blink using some DH etc. They perform correctly except they don’t dim. I’ve tried 4-5 different bulbs and cans as I have lots of parts around for testing. Ive even tried a new Nano thinking maybe just one was malfunctioning.

The “Recently” in the app shows levels being set when dimming but I have looked in the IDE. Will do that next.

They did pair quickly which is nice but I’m really disappointed in all the Aeotec hype around this dimmer being smarter and better. On the Micro you could dim using the action button on the device. That doesn’t seem to be the case on the nano. The Micro will dim using several generic DHs right out of the box.

It almost feels like I have SWITCHES In a DIMMER casing.

Very weird. I have a support ticket out to aeotec but if not solved soon I would rate these 1star and not ready for use.

I’ve been waiting for 6 months for these and really disappointing.

The Nano Dimmer has the ability for dimming and only ON/OFF control, but it ultimately depends on the load you are using. If the bulbs that you are using are not supported by Nano Dimmer, it will control your bulbs ON/OFF only:

With dimming function (On/Off/Dim control)

  • Incandescent bulbs,
  • Halogen bulbs with or without electronic transformer,
  • Dimmable LED bulbs (leading edge and trailing edge),
  • Dimmable Fluorescent lamps.

Without dimming function (On/Off control only)

  • Non-dimmable bulbs,
  • Compact fluorescent lamps with electronic rectifier,
  • Fluorescent tube lamps with electronic ballast,
  • General non-dimmable LED Bulbs

You should also be sure of the watt ratings required of the Nano Dimmer.

Minimum load power requirement.
3-wire Installation with Neutral Wire

  • 10W

2-wire Installation without Neutral Wire

  • 20W

While the maximum load that you can have over the Nano Dimmer is

  • 144W

In this case, what sort of bulbs are you using? If you are switching to different bulbs, make sure to unpair your Nano Dimmer and then pair it back to force your Nano dimmer to re-detect the type of bulb you are trying to replace.

It is best to test with an incandescent bulb if you are unsure if the dimming is not working correctly.

The OP did say that he used to have dimming control on the same lighting circuits when he had the aeotec micro dimmers before.

Which device handler is used with this device? Is it local or cloud controlled?

Hello e8link,

I am currently using the default z-wave metering dimmer DH for mine.
I found it recommend on another thread for the NANO dimmer while a custom DH is created or worked on.
Think it was here https://community.smartthings.com/t/aeotec-nano-dimmer-features/85629
Hope this helps

This is not a solution, I was able to trick the nano dimmer. Basically I put an old incandescent light into the nano dimmer and turned the power on. The nano dimmer went through it’s initial load detection and determined the brightness levels. I could confirm this by dimming the light in my app (sorry I use Vera but it should be the same for ST) Then I swapped the old incandescent for a dimmable LED and it would properly dim at various levels. I should stress that this does not work because the minute you lose power it will re-do the load detection and you’re right back to where you started.

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Had the same issues with my Aaotec Nano Dimmer, using both ST and Aeotec USB Z-Stick controller. Couldn’t find a permanent fix, but managed to make it stable to use as dimmer with my LED lights.This issue has nothing to do with the controller.

I have two of these, both dimming light fixtures that uses 4 PAR20 6W dimmable LED lamps (24w load total each); in a 2-wire installation without Neutral. When it first powers on, it tries to determine the load type, the dimming principle (Leading or Trailing) and MIN / MAX brightness sensitivity of the load.

In my case, when it starts to detect load type during first power on, and reaches from Min to Max Brightness, lights flicker for a brief while in MAX and then it retries to go from min to max two more times and then sets itself to ON/OFF mode only (no dimming capability).

Config parameter info tells me then that it was automatically set as following:

Parameter 128 = 1 (2-wire mode)
Parameter 129 = 0 (trailing edge mode dimming principle)
Parameter 130 = 1 (resistive load)

By manually setting Parameter 132 (MAX brightness) to 95, and then setting Parameter 129 to 1 (leading edge principle) in this very same order, while keeping lights ON, I was then able to dim my LED lights as I wanted (from 0-100%, limited to the MAX I set). I also manually set Parameter 131 (MIN brightness) to the lowest value setting I wanted it to reach.

In order to prevent the Dimmer from overriding my manual configuration in each power outage, I also changed Parameter 249 (Recognition Way of Load) to 0 (Never recognize the load when power on).

My second Aeotec Nano Dimmer, for some reason, only allowed me to dim lights when setting MAX brighness level to 89. Trying to increase it made it go back to ON/OFF only; forcing me to first lower this setting, changing from leading to traling dimming mode, to finally switch back to leading mode to dim again.

My lamps also worked when setting a lower MAX brightness, and then setting Dimming Principle to Trailing Edge. But Light output was greater using Leading Edge in the MAX Brighness I could set in each dimming principle before making it unstable again.

What I found so far is that due to the complex nature of how the Nano Dimmer works in 2-wire mode; and how different circuit designs exists in dimming LED lamps, it fails to properly recognize dimming vs non-dimming LED circuits and it’s best dimming principle.

I think that Aeotec should at least provide a list of tested LED lights, because without this, planning to replace them to something that actually works as intended is impossible.

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I am currently suffering from a nano dimmer that doesn’t dim either. When it first turned on, I saw it going through it’s check and dimming the bulb to various levels but then only does on/off from there. I would love to know what all this jargon means. What is DH (someone else said this)? How/where are you setting config parameters? My dimmer is behind an outlet rather than a light switch and I’m trying to use it to control string lights outside. The outlet and dimmer are in a weather proof outlet box under an eave so it should be protected.

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DH = Device Handler. It says what features exists in specific devices, and what are their options form ST.

Setting parameters with Smart Things requires that you install a new device handler, and change your Aeotec Nano Dimmer DH for the one in the link:

You will find install instructions and how to verify / change parameters in the topic above

I am having a very similar issue to this (see: Help with Aeotec Nano dimmers and retractive switch).

I started off the same as the OP but have managed to get the lights to switch on/off and dim from the wall switches by setting the min/max brightness parameters to 5 and 89 respectively. However the dimming isn’t quite as smooth as I would like it. There is a noticeable series of very brief lags as the lights dim down when I press the button to switch them off or hold the button to dim. If I dim manually from the ST app I also find there’s no real noticeable dimming in the 100%-75% range. When I move the dimming slider below 75% the dimming becomes perceptible, but again there are short lags, as if the dimming is going 75,74,73,65,64,50% rather than smoothly transitioning from 75-50% in degrees of 1%. Has anyone else had this issue and managed to solve it?

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