I understand Aeotec are pretty unreliable when it comes to releasing new products, but I noticed today that the Nano Dimmer page on their website says that the product is current shipping to their OEM partners. Does anyone have any idea who their OEM partners are and if the Nano Dimmers are available to purchase from them? Googling hasn’t brought up the answer.
They have a couple, but they are either for devices which are sold in a kit for installers to use or to some of the big “do it for me” channels like the cable companies. You probably won’t be able to buy individual devices from them. For one thing, these partners are generally not set up to collect the individual sales tax required on a retail sale, and they just don’t want to get into that process.
In addition Aeon Labs manufactures for multiple regions, and that particular OEM partner might be in China and the devices not on the US frequency anyway.
Hi Mark, thanks for bringing this to our attention. We’ve had the device on order for a while so we should be one of the first to get it (directly from Aeotec). We recommend checking with Aeotec if the stock over at discounthomeautomation is authorized and covered by their warranty. Our assumption is it isn’t since it arrived without a box or instructions.
I emailed aeotec and initially the customer support rep agreed it seemed strange. But he said he looked into it and confirmed discounthomeautomation.com has genuine aeotec nano switches that are covered under warranty.
I wonder why the devices seem to be available there but nowhere else?
They may be skimming them off of an order intended for an OEM. That doesn’t mean it’s not legitimate, they may have an arrangement with Time Warner or Xfinity or somebody to get some of the devices that they end up deciding not to use.
Again, the main reason that most OEMs don’t sell individual pieces is that they’re not set up to collect the sales tax on an individual retail sale and they just don’t want to get into that. But sometimes there are distributors who will pick up the inventory and sell it on to individuals.
That could also explain why there are no boxes for them, large wholesale orders don’t necessarily come in the same packaging as devices intended for individual retail sale.
The aeotec rep said the items were intended for integration into gateways, I guess maybe he meant for providers like xfinity.
Now that I know it’s covered under warranty in case I have a problem, I’m going to try to install it in a fixture (no neutrals in my switch boxes). Last time i installed a micro switch, it was a tight fit so I’d like to see how much easier this one stuffs in there.
If you guys can’t wait for the Nano Dimmer, we have a great device from Qubino which manufactures their products in Europe. They’ve just entered the US market with a bunch of unique products, including a trailing-edge micro dimmer which will handle low-voltage dimmable bulbs way better than most Z-Wave dimmers out there (requires a neutral though):