Are the Lowe’s GE Dimmer switches compatible with SmartThings hub? I’ve seen the other GE receptacle and the GE On/Off switches are suppose to be compatible, but I was wondering if the Dimmers are? They appear to be the same as the GE 45612 on Amazon, but are cheaper.
Anyone get them to work?
Yes, I have one installed in my home and it works great.
I was looking at those today because I’m planning on adding a couple soon. I noticed that there wasn’t a neutral screw/post on the switch, is that right? The other GE on/off switches have a neutral post.
Yes, they work well. They are branded as part of their Iris system but are the same thing as the typical GE switches and are the cheapest I could find compared to Amazon and other places online. I have 6 of them currently installed.
The dimmer switches do not require a neutral but the on/off do.
All Lowes GE “Iris” stuff is compatible with smartthings - it is z-wave.
Not sure that is completely true… I know a lot of other people have mentioned not being able to get the Iris motion and contact sensors to work because they are proprietary zigbee. Unless something has changed since then.
If the devices on Lowe’s shelves are completely branded “Iris”, then they will not work - like the Iris motion sensors. The GE stuff, or others, that say “compatible with Iris” should work. I have 16 GE switches installed and they work great.
Mweston, motion sensors and contact are not GE and not z-wave, they are some sort of proprietary zigbee. All GE Iris stuff is z-wave and is compatible with smartthings.
I noticed that the GE dimmers I picked up from Lowe’s generating a buzzing sound. I have them powering 6 LED floods. I’m not sure if it’s because they expect a heavier load but I thought with 6 of those it would be pretty close to 1 incandescent so it would handle the load ok. Not sure if it’s something specific with those dimmers or if I just don’t notice it on the other two I have, which came from ST.
I installed the GE Dimmer switch, and it works fine. The usage is very problematic for my wife and kids, they don’t like the behavior of a dimmer switch, when i replaced a regular switch.
Are there any other on/off switches that I can install that don’t need a neutral wire? I’ve only found these GE dimmers that don’t need a neutral wire.
@Morgan, does your dimmer switch humm/buzz at all, especially when not at full on/off?
Mine do. It’s really not noticeable though unless I happen to have my ear really close to the switch and it is very quiet. It’s pretty common in dimmer switches. There are some that do not do it but I haven’t seen any that are z-wave and do not buzz.
Thanks Mweston. I wasn’t sure if getting a dimmer that required a neutral wire like Linear’s eliminated the buzzing. I plan on adding a few dimmers shortly, and some of the reviews complained about buzzing.
My GE Dimmer Buzzes really loud until it reaches about 90% brightness. I am using old style incandescent bulbs 6 @ 60Watts each.
Any ideas how to reduce the loud Buzzing, or did I get a bad in my starter kit???
I have a on/off switch that I’ve been sitting in for a while because I’m unfamiliar with the neutral wiring.
My current ‘dumb’ switch has the normal ground and two live wires. There is a gang of about 4 white wires that are connected together but not connected to the current switch. I believe those are neutral wires but I’m not 100% sure. Our house is brand new (built in late 2013) but since I’m not an electrician, I’m a little hesitant to just go hooking up to what I think is a neutral and end up being wrong.
Any tips on figuring out if the gang or wires are definitely neutral or do I need to get an electrician out here to tell me you think?
Thanks for any help or tips.
We just installed a GE Gimmer Switch yesterday, and I’m having mixed results with it.
Under the Switches & Dimmers Things section, there was not an option for adding a non-three way in wall GE dimmer switch. What it did add was add in a “Thing” just called Dimmer Switch.
I am able to sometimes turn on and dim the switch using the SmartThings app, but more often the status icon will sit at “Turning On” or “Turning Off” without doing anything. Sometimes after a long wait the switch will go on or off. The dimmer slider seems to be a bit more responsive.
Should I try removing the switch from the “Things” setup and try re-pairing? When I was about to do this, I received a warning on deleting and there was an option to force delete which gave a warning. I looked through the switch’s manual and did not find any information there on how to un-pair the switch.
Could it be a bad switch or is it having trouble talking to my hub? None of the other devices in my home are having issues.
Thanks!
I use one, and the type is a Dimmer Switch. It does say turning on and turning off, and sometimes takes 5 - 10 seconds to refresh in the UI.
What device type is it using? Have you looked at it in the IDE to see what device type? I used a GE remote on my dimmer switch as well to change the ramp up and ramp rates so it dims faster and slower at times depending if using the physical switch, UI or All within Zwave.
What concerns me is that when I change the state via the iPhone app, the light doesn’t always turn on or off. It has not been very consistent yet. For example, this morning I tried to turn on the dimmer light when I was in the bedroom. By the time I got to the living room downstairs, it was still off. I’m going to try setting up wake up events or on arrival next to see what happens.
Here is some of the information I’m seeing in the IDE for the switch.
Name Dimmer Switch
Label Family Room Switch
Type Dimmer Switch
Version Published
Device Network Id 03
Status INACTIVE
Current States
indicatorStatus: when on
switch: off
level: 50 %
From what I’m noticing, the switch is registering as on or off correctly in the iPhone app. It is not turning on or off or dimming upon commands though.
I need to do more testing, but I’m wondering if the on and off commands are reversed somehow. Last night I noticed that the light turned off when it thought I was now home even though the light was recognized as ON in the app.
I will retest this more, but if this is the issue would it be a wiring problem or do I need to just delete and re pair the switch to the hub?
Well it doesn’t seem to be that the commands are reversed. I am also getting it to work once in a while but not very often.
This is only one of two z-wave devices that I’m currently using. The second is a First Alert Fire/Carbon Monoxide alarm which is about 25 feet away through some walls. The Hub is upstairs one level in my office. I’m wondering if the signal is just not getting to/from it very well?
The switch is in a metal box and it was pretty tightly put into the box. Could this be an issue? Would adding additional switches/outlets help?