GE Switches and Outlets failing

Devices & Integrations
1

I have a Smartthings system on a V2 hub with 50+ (hardware) devices, including about 40 ZWave switches and outlets. Over the past 3 years, 10-12 GE switches and 3-5 GE outlets have failed and had to be replaced. As near as I can tell, all the devices stopped working when the relay failed (blue light flashing - resetting doesn’t help).

The problem is bad enough that I now keep an inventory of replacements on the shelf.

What’s particularly frustrating is that they seem to be particularly prone to failure right when I turn a circuit back on after replacing a failed switch. It happened today. I cut the power and replaced a failed GE switch in a bank of three with an iNovelli unit. As soon as I reset the circuit breaker, an adjacent GE switch failed. I gave up and replaced the second failed one and the third one (which hadn’t failed) just so that I wouldn’t have to come back to it.

I have begun to replace the GE switches with iNovelli switches (8 so far), hoping that the reliability will be better. I haven’t had the iNovelli ones long enough to tell if they will last longer yet, but I do like the firmware better and the setup is much easier.

Unfortunately, there are no iNovelli outlets, so for now I am stuck with the unreliable GE Enbrighten ones. I replaced one of those today.

Anyone have similar problems? Ideas?

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2

It is a known problem with the older Jasco devices. They will replace them for free if they are less than 5 years old. Call there customer service.

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3

I did contact them a couple of times. They did get me replacements, but I got fed up with it. Replacing electrical switches is becoming a regular weekend activity. I need a device I can put in the wall and have it work for several years.

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4

yup, known to fail. your best bet is to go with another brand.

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5

For outlets, probably better to use pocket sockets. You have a wider variety to choose from and if one does fail, you just unplug it and swap.

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6

You’re right, and I use pluggable outlets several places, primarily because I like to be able to move them around easily. For the rest, though, I like the clean look of an in-wall outlet.

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7

yup, this is what we do and when i help other people set up.

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8

I wish I knew this before I threw them away and bought Meross, wifi outlets compatible with smartthings. But reading more says it was not the bad idea. GE failed after a power outage. Four of them. Voltage spike?

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I had some older non-plus date code of around 2014 last 5 years before I replaced them. Seems the 17XX date codes seem to fail more than others and likely why GE Jasco extended their warranty from 2 to 5 years. I haven’t had any troubles with the newer models. I have over 100 Zwave and Zigbee switches in my home.

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Yes. It does appear that vulnerability to a voltage spike is the problem with the GE switches. They seem to fail only when power is restored after a power failure or after resetting a circuit breaker.

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