Bedroom light strobes when off, after delay

(Please tell me where this might have been better categorized, as I am new and I mean no harm.)

I have two CentraLite 4256050-ZHAC modules, one in the living room controlling a fan, and one in the bedroom controlling the bedside light. (I know now that I should have bought SmartThings switches-- to support the cause and all-- but was buying off eBay, where I have a “charge account” and didn’t see any at the time.)

The one in the living room is right next to the hub, and it works perfectly.

The one in the bedroom is about thirty feet away from the hub and seems to behave fine, but…

When the light is turned off, after a ten to fifteen minute delay, it begins to flash rapidly, which annoys my wife to no end. :frowning:

We have swapped the two switches only to have the same behavior. Could this be a distance issue? I rather thought there was more range than that. There is no metal between the two other than what is in mobile home interior walls.

If it is distance, would a repeater help? I would have already tested that out myself, but I don’t want to give up control over the fan, even temporarily, as I am disabled and I don’t like to ask my wife to constantly come turn it on and off. To me, the price of the system is recouped on just that one use, but I could have just gotten a fan with a remote for about half the price-- the search for one is what lead me to buying SmartThings in the first place, by the way, albeit somewhat indirectly.

Oh, and what is the normal range of such devices?

Any answers/advice are greatly appreciated! :smile:

Are you using an LED, CFL or a low-wattage bulb by any chance? Some switches require minimum load of about 40W. Z-Wave should work within 100 feet without a problem. At any rate, signal loss cannot cause flickering.

Yeah, I almost certain it’s an electrical problem. Maybe the bulbs as @geko is saying or the way everything is wired.

@geko Thank you for the information. I am glad to hear about the 100-foot range.

That just seems strange to me that they would require about 40W even when off, but I will take your word for it. :smile:

I plan to buy a bulb to replace the outlet switch. Could someone suggest one that works well with SmartThings?

I looked at TCP bulbs, and they seem to need to be set up on their own hub, then integrated with SmartThings after. Am I just confused?

They don’t require 40w when off. The issue is that some of these switches need to pass a little bit of current through the circuit at all times so that the switch can work (i.e. they don’t have a dedicate supply to power the electronics inside). This trickle was unnoticeable with incandescent lights, but with the high efficiency of an LED, it cause it to flicker/glow.

As for a good smart bulb integrated with SmartThings… I find Hue to be the clear winner, but at $60/bulb they’re not for everybody. You might want to wait a few weeks and check out the new GE Link bulbs that are coming.

Ah, yes, the light dawns! (pun intended)

I will probably make do for now with an incandescent that I still have installed in one of our closets.

Thank you for your response!

After further reading, I found the answer on the TCP bulbs, i.e., they do require their own hub.

Oh, well! :smile: