Our wiring is such that the load is supplied to the ceiling with a single cable down to the existing dimmer switch. I’ve been able to trace most of the wiring behind the walls and in order to run another cable down to the switch (basically running power through the switch to the 6 LEDs in the ceiling) I’d have to tear out quite a bit of wall. Fortunately, it’s in a closet and easy to repair neatly, but still a lot of work for a single circuit.
I’ve been looking at Aeotec’s Nano Dimmer and it seems promising, but we’d prefer manual dimming as well. Is this possible? Seems Aeotec’s compatible Touch cover is binary on/off, but I did see mention about a dimmer that pulses signals (I’m assuming similar to how Lutron’s Caseta-based dimmer works). Does someone know of a dimmer switch that would allow me to program the levels to automate Aeotec’s Nano Dimmer? I’ve found nothing searching so far.
So much desire for HA, but an older home sure does make it difficult!
As far as I know, dimmer switches are not supported. The coding control for the manuial switch is simple. on or off. A retractive switch is the recommended one to use. It simply sends a pulse. A rocker has a fixed state. So the dimmer detects how the switch behaves to decide what type it is. A fixed state switch cannot control dimming. That is only with a retractive action, and determined by previous state. So a pulse switches it on. Holding it on continuosly dims. release and hold again it brightens. A pulse wiill actuate switch the lights on or off. Or between 0% and 100%. A series will pulses will not work.
As for the lighting switch, there must be at least 2 wires to complete a circuit. These 2 wires are actually the live wire, with the switch in between. the switch simply makes the breaks or bridge the connection in this wire. This is what’s described as a 2-wire configuration. Confusingly enough, there is usually a third, Earth wire.
The nano dimmer supports both 2 and 3-wire configs. 3-wire configs have the neutral wire too. But you don’t have to connect to the neutral. You can still just connect to the live and load like a 2-wire. For a 2-wire setup, you need to bridge the L and N sockets of the dimmer module with a short length of wire. And its a pain to stuff 2 wires in one socket. Aside from the minimum load characteristics of using 3-wires, that’s the practical advantage to connect to neutral if available.