Light Switch Options

[dtomack (Darin)]

I have had a SmartThings set up at home for about a month and half now. And, I’m trying to find a light-switch/dimmer that I am happy with.

I initially started with the GE dimmer switchers. I like how these look and generally like the push top for on, push bottom for off like a non-zwave decora switch. The thing that irritates me about the switch is the delay in having the switch come on. Pushing the switch to light coming on takes upwards of 2 seconds. I would really like instant on.

I recently bought a Leviton VRMX1-1LZ. Much better instant ON time for this switch. The downsides for me are:

• I don’t like the single-button toggle behavior. You push only the bottom to turn on/off the switch.
• Doesn’t seem like I can configure the LED on the bottom of the switch to be on or off.
• The dimmer bar is ridiculously thin, and I find it hard to press.
• Lastly, the switch is so deep, I had trouble getting it into the box with the wiring behind it.
  Still so far it is the best choice I have.

I was looking at the Cooper Aspire RF (RF9540-NAW) switches, but am hesitant since it appears that there is a single ramp rate for both up and down. I think a nice ramp down to off on the dimmer is appealing, but I want the light to instant on. Or at least I’d like to be able to set up so it will instant-on. Since the Cooper seems to only have one ramp-rate, it looks like either it is instant on and off or ramped on and off. Is it?

Has anyone found any other switches that they like? Is the GE zigbee switch any faster? Or is it the same as the Z wave switch?

I have already read these threads:

Who makes the BEST Z-Wave dimmer? (Leviton, GE, Linear, Cooper)

Who makes the best Z-Wave dimmer? These are the two I’ve tried so far: Leviton Pro: Responds very quickly. Pro: User configurable minimum brightness. This is extremely useful for LEDs like mine, since they do not turn on with less than 10% power. Pro: User configurable default brightness. When the switch is turned on, it can return to the last brightness level or your selected default brightness level. Many people prefer their switches to start at 100% brightness. Pro: Green leds on the switch indicate the current brightness level. Con: The dimming buttons or “dim bar” (as they call it) is awful. It’s stiff, difficult to use, and feels cheap. Con/Neutral: There are not separate on and off buttons. A single button is used to toggle on/off state. Con: Expensive. $60 for the basic version,…

Light Switches?

Hey Everyone, I’ve got about 8 light switches i want to buy replacements for that are smartthings compatible. I’d like something that has dimmer support but it’s not needed. There’s such a huge list i was wondering if anyone has any suggestions? What’s the best light switch i can get?

Help?

Thanks,

Darin

[btk (The fish is still dead.)]

You can change the ramp rate on the GE switches to make them turn on/off quicker. See this thread for details:

Modify Ramp Rate on GE (Jasco) Dimmers

It’s possible to change the ramp rate of GE switches, but I’m not sure the best way to do this in smart things. I only really want to set the values once per switch, and I want to use the same value for all my dimmers. My first thought was to create my own dimmer device type and just throw in a one time setting of these parameters in the “refresh” command. However, this does not seem to be working for me (setting all values to 1): zwave.configurationV1.configurationSet(configurationValue: [1], parameterNumber: 7, size: 1).format() zwave.configurationV1.configurationSet(configurationValue: [1], parameterNumber: 8, size: 1).format() zwave.configurationV1.configurationSet(configurationValue: [1], parameterNumber: 9, size: 1).format() zwave.configurationV1.configurationSet(configurationValue…

[dtomack (Darin)]

I will give this a try, but I am dubious it will help. I’m talking about physically activating the switch is slow. I press the physical switch to turn on the light, it comes on with no discernible ramp up, but the lamp doesn’t come on for up to two seconds.

Thanks,

Darin

[btk (The fish is still dead.)]

What kind of bulbs are you using with the dimmer, and are you sure they’re dimmable? My GE dimmers are nowhere near that slow with supported bulbs, but I’ve seen that behavior with non-dimmable bulbs.

[dtomack (Darin)]

The current bulb in the lamp is a Philips SlimStyle A19 10.5W (60W equiv). I’ve also tried a Cree equivalent in the lamp. Seems about the same.

[dtomack (Darin)]

So, it does look like changing the ramp time and/or step size does in-fact make the light come on much faster. Unfortunately, it changes the ramp-down time as well. And it make it very hard to set the dim level from the switch.

I think I might be able to make this work though.