We have an Iris Motion Sensor that activates a GE ZWave dimmer switch to set the lights at 40%. We have had this setup for a while now, and it has worked flawless.
All of the sudden, this morning, when the lights would come on they would flicker. This morning I adjusted it to different percentages, 30% 50% and there was no flicker. I know certain LED bulbs can flicker with certain dimmers, but this was working just fine with no flickering.
The flicker is like a steady pulse/heartbeat. It is common for this to happen when everything has been fine? I can’t seem to make sense of it not working all of the sudden and being fine at levels higher and lower.
Possible you installed something new in the house? A fan, air-conditioning, maybe this is the first time you noticed at 40% but it was there all along, loose wiring connections or the dimmer is going bad.
I would try testing at 40% with as many electronics turn off as possible. Also have a meter and check the load to neutral to see any abnormality.
I don’t have a meter, but we have had the same setup for a few months now, always keeping that light at 40% (there are 8 -12 or so candelabra bulbs on the fixture) This is the dining room and is used often, and the light comes on whenever someone enters the room, which is at least daily. It has never flickered before. Just started a few days ago. The dimmer is only a few months old, and nothing new has been added.
The dimming goes away at a lower dim and higher dim. (quickly tested this morning)
I walked in the room this morning, light tuned on to 40% and started flickering. I opened the ST app, adjusted it to around 30% and it stopped flickering. I walked back in and the light adjusted to 40% due to motion and it started flickering again. Adjusted it higher, it stopped flickering, adjusted it lower and it stopped flickering.
We have had it set to 40% for months and now that percentage causes flickering. Seems odd.
I’ve had a few plug-in dimmers start to flicker bulbs at some low percentages, where they had operated normally previously, and I assume they degraded themselves marginally. I did not do a lot of troubleshooting (like moving it to a different circuit), but replacing with the same or a different plug-in dimmer, cleared out the issue in the 2-3 incidents.
At least once, swapping bulbs indicated that the issue was the plug-in dimmer. Next time maybe the bulb will go marginal.
I did change the automation to 30%, but I have to test when I get home. I wish on the smart lighting automation you could type in your own percentage instead of picking from a list increasing by 10.
It’s not a fluke. Something is definitely causing it. Just keep an eye on what changes in the house electrically when it’s happening again. Hope it won’t come back.
Dirty power from your electrical company but it would be hard to monitor. Since it happened only at 40%. I would just ignore it for now and just keep an eye on it. Unless you feel like a need to isolate it then you could swap the dimmer to another location.