Fibaro 2 Dimmer (212 not 211)

This might be of interest. It has the step-by-step instructions for publishing any custom device type to your account. (This is a clickable link.)

I was initially using one of the standard device types for my Dimmer 2, and that was working fine (just no energy consumption meter). If I left the module listed as the standard type, would that be ok without an internet connection? (type was ā€œZ-Wave Device Multichannelā€)

If the micro is pairing as a generic ZW switch, it should run locally. I havenā€™t actually connected one in the UK bc Iā€™m afraid of killing myself (and basically bringing down the London power grid). With my luck, thereā€™s not chance I end up like the flash

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Stupid question, how do I change it from the universal dimmer to this

You probably already know this, but for those just starting to think about this device in their projects, there are two kinds of physical controls that can be used for the front plates.

Binary switches, a toggle that goes on or off, will work to physically turn the light on (thereā€™s a parameter, I donā€™t remember whether it goes on to hundred percent or goes onto the last setting but one of those).

A momentary switch is like a traditional push button. You push it in and you can hold it. It always reverts to the same state when youā€™re done. If the light was off, pushing it will turn on. If the light was on, pushing it will turn it off. But thereā€™s an option where if you push the button and hold it in the brightness will increase. Again set with parameters. So using a momentary faceplate lets you change the brightness at the physical switch.

The important part when first planning what switches to buy, is not to combine binary switches and momentary switches on the same circuit or the relay will get very confused. So if setting up two ways (two switches control the same light), match the physical switch type so that they will work with the parameters that were set in the one relay. Switches donā€™t have to be identical models, but they have to either all be momentary, or all be binary in order to work with the one relay.

That may be obvious to everyone, but I do occasionally see people try to use two different styles to match decor, So I just wanted to mention it.

If different relays are being used on different circuits, then of course itā€™s fine to have one style of switch on one of the circuits and the other style of switch on the other circuit as the parameters for the two relays can be set independently.

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Hi Giles,

Smartthings does not give you the ability to change the parameters manually. You will need to do it through code. The default behaviour of the dimmer 2 module is that if you are not using momentary switches, and standard on/off switch, if you turn the button down, the brightness will gradually increase till you flip the switch in the opposite direction to stop at the required level of brightness, and vice versa. The code that I have posted will let you just use the switch like a normal switch. Push down for turning it on, and push it up for turning it off.

If you want to use the same device type for two switches, one as default and one as modified type such as on/off, you will need to create two buttons for configuration. One button will set to call a function for default configuration, and another button to call a function to modify the default configuration and set it to the mode you desired (such as on/off).

Modify the code as follows:
standardTile(ā€œconfigureAfterSecureā€, ā€œdevice.configureā€, inactiveLabel: false, decoration: ā€œflatā€, width: 2, height: 2) {
state ā€œdefaultā€, label:ā€˜ā€™, action:ā€œconfigureAfterSecureā€, icon:ā€œst.secondary.configureā€
}
details([ā€œswitchā€,ā€œpowerā€,ā€œenergyā€,ā€œconfigureAfterSecureā€,ā€œrefreshā€,ā€œresetā€])

With
standardTile(ā€œconfigure1ā€, ā€œdevice.configureā€, inactiveLabel: false, decoration: ā€œflatā€, width: 2, height: 2) {
state ā€œdefaultā€, label:ā€˜ā€™, action:"configure1, icon:ā€œst.secondary.configureā€
}
standardTile(ā€œconfigure2ā€, ā€œdevice.configureā€, inactiveLabel: false, decoration: ā€œflatā€, width: 2, height: 2) {
state ā€œdefaultā€, label:ā€˜ā€™, action:"configure2, icon:ā€œst.secondary.configureā€
}
details([ā€œswitchā€,ā€œpowerā€,ā€œenergyā€,ā€œconfigure1ā€,ā€œconfigure2ā€, ā€œrefreshā€,ā€œresetā€])

And
def configureAfterSecure() {
//code
}
With
def configure1() {
//define configuration 1 parameters
}
def configure2() {
//define configuration 2 parameters
}

And
def updated() {
log.debug ā€œupdated()ā€
response([ā€œdelay 2000ā€] + configureAfterSecure() + refresh())
}
With
Assuming configure1 is your default configuration
def updated() {
log.debug ā€œupdated()ā€
response([ā€œdelay 2000ā€] + configure1() + refresh())
}

Now when you press configure 2, it should take the behaviour of the second configuration you have defined.

Alternatively, you can just copy paste the entire code and create a new device type for the second configuration and just modify the condifureAfterSecure code to your desired parameters and just change the device type of the new switch to the new device type youā€™ve just created

Hope this helps.

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Hello! Iā€™m new into this thread, and having a pain in the ass time with the Smartthings hub.

Bought the Aeon Labs micro dimmer (the one that is confirmed compatible with the hub), and after a few hours yesterday of trying to wire it in, itā€™s clear it will only work with a three wire system, and not a two wire one like I have.

So now Iā€™m going to flip to the Fibaro dimmer instead (which isnā€™t listed as compatible). Can anyone let me know if Iā€™m better off buying the 212 or the 211 dimmer?

Itā€™s for use in a UK home.

Many thanks for any direction. I canā€™t bare to waste another day trying to wire in another dimmer than wonā€™t work.

Hi Marty,

If you are interested in a straight swap Iā€™ve purchased the 212 (the 211 doesnā€™t support 2 wire setups either) I have the luxury (if you can call it that) of getting my next house rewired so will be opting for a 3-wire lighting configuration and going with the Aeon Labs micro dimmer. I wanted to test something out but do not have backboxes deep enough to retro fit either currently so it would be unsafe to use mine, Iā€™ve not even paired it with SmartThings yet. Can include some handy pre-wired twin and earth too if youā€™d like :wink:

Thanks,
Matt

Hi Matt,

I bought mine on Amazon Prime, so had the beauty of sending it back to them for free this morning and got an immediate gift card refund, so the unitā€™s already gone Iā€™m afraid.

I too have the issue of not deep enough back boxes, but am going to drill out deeper holes next weekend.

As for the 212 and 211, I thought looking at YouTube the 211 did support 2 wires?! Damn, that narrows my choice down a lot then.

Iā€™m not great at coding, so hoping the above code is not too difficult to copy and paste and implementā€¦

Iā€™ll reiterate that the 212 does get picked up by ST off the bat, and gets recognised as a generic dimmer. No coding is really necessary unless youā€™re set on getting power consumption figures or changing the default config via ST. If youā€™re using a momentary switch you will have no problem at all (regular switch needs a bit of config change depending on how you want it to operate).

5 minutes ago I wired up a 212, hit the button 3 times and told ST to find new devices. It picked up first time instantly, and is now a thing in my inventory.

I bored out my backboxes (or had them done for me) from 25 to 35mm a while ago. Not an easy job, and very messy.

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Ah shame, do double check what Iā€™ve said but I believe the 211 is on the supported list and the reason I decided against it was because it didnā€™t support a 2-wire setup. Itā€™s entirely possible Iā€™m wrong, it has happened on more than one occasion.

I think Iā€™ll stick with the 212ā€™s then. Fortunately theyā€™re much more expensive than the Aeon Labs ones, and a little bit more than the 211ā€™s. This is turning into a big job just so I can turn my lights on automatically whilst Iā€™m out!

I currently have regular switches, but theyā€™re old and need changing. Do you recommend changing to momentary switches then?

All Iā€™m looking for the switches to do mainly, is turn on automatically when I trip the Fibaro motion sensors, and then turn off after 2 minutes of no movement.

Also, when Iā€™m out and about, I want lights to turn on automatically so that it looks like someone is home, and I donā€™t get burgled. Hopefully Smartthings will get easier to do this all over the coming months. I hear thereā€™s a big upgrade coming in Novemberā€¦

I changed to momentary switches with my old X10 setup, and have never looked back. Theyā€™re totally intuitive and very easy to use for anyone (if theyā€™re on it turns them off, if off it turns them on).

I posted on [momentary switches][1] [1]: VFAQ: Lighting Control Options for UK SmartThings this morning, the Schneider range are great if youā€™re looking for something like that.

I got my 212s from a company called ā€˜Datawizeā€™, who seem very well priced. I bought 10 at once and negotiated a bit more money off.

http://www.datawize-smarthomes.com/fibaro-z-wave-dimmer-2

HTH!

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Cool, thanks for the tip on Datawise. Iā€™ve bought the first one on Amazon for Ā£46 delivered to test it out and get it working first, then will be back to Datawise as thatā€™ll save me about Ā£50 on ordering the rest at their prices.

Oddly, Datawize probably fulfilled your Amazon order. They are always cheaper direct, by at least 10-12%.

Hi

Thanks for this. I was not planning on mixing switch types on the same circuit. I think that would confuse me, let alone the relay! I have a combination of on/off in one-way and two-way setups, and momentary setups. But not mixed.

The configuration code which has been pasted looks good, and tonight Iā€™ve had more time to read the documentation again so am starting to get on top of it I think. Just waiting for the opportunity to test this on a physical dimmer now!

Hi

Thatā€™s fantastic - thanks. Iā€™ve made all the changes I think I need to. My only problem now is that when I set a Location for the simulator, and then hit Install on the Virtual Device, the wheel just spins and it gets stuck on ā€˜installingā€¦ā€™. This is the first time Iā€™ve done this; is this common, do you know, or is there a potential problem with my code?

Here is what I have done:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8199958/fibaro2dimmer.groovy.txt

Many thanks again.

Both of them support 2 wire installation. You can read a lot of them in vesternet.com.

The simulator does not simulate the multitile setup at all. Even for other device types. I just plunged straight in, and it was working fine.

All,

I was wondering if you could help me. I have a Fibaro 212 dimmer and have hooked it up to my ST Hub V2. I am adding it to a standard single 2-wire switch and am having few niggles.

Is the wiring below correct for a single 2-wire switch?

  • L - connected to mains live
  • S1 - Connected to Live 1 on the switch
  • Sx - Connected to Com on the switch and bridged into N on the dimmer
  • Output - Connected to the neutral wire from the mains.

I paired the device using the B button on the Dimmer and it connected as a Z-Wave Device Multichannel which I would expect.

Iā€™m getting a couple of issues. Firstly, the SmartThings app ALWAYS reports that the switch in ON. Even when Iā€™ve switched the light off using the app, close the app and go back in. Iā€™m having to press the switch on and off to turn the lights on or off manually? Is this expected?

As you can tell Iā€™m totally new to this so any assistance gratefully received.

Thanks,

-N