I have installed a 2 gang AOne rotary dimmer and have had a mixed experience. I tried several brands of GU10 dimmable LEDs including Philips and suffered flickering and permanently on glowing. When I reported this to Aurora they suggested using supported/tested Aurora bulbs only. I switched bulbs and the dimmer does now work but to my mind the dimming range is now fairly narrow. So my experience with these dimmers is if you want to avoid issues and wasted expense on bulbs make sure you only use supported Aurora bulbs to start with. However their GU10s don’t dim down all that low.
Connectivity to SmartThings is excellent. I have had rock solid stability and control for over two weeks. The provided white faceplate is attractive and the blue glow fairly subtle.
@ChirpyChips
You could try looking at adding an LED ‘bypass’ like this -
There are other brands as well.
Note: Despite the name the above Fibaro product is not a Z-Wave product nor Zigbee for that matter, it merely drains the surplus power.
They are intended to help with dimmers controlling LED lights. The problem is that LED lights need very little power - after all that is their big selling point, however in order for a dimmer switch to work via a 2-wire circuit a little electricity still has to be allowed through to power the switch and this ends up at the LED bulb even when the circuit is dimmed.
I think Aurora need to add some official statement on this to their own website as I have seen a number of customers with this issue.
It maybe updating the Aurora firmware might help as well.
I had similar issues of flickering etc but was using Aurora gu10 lamps. If yours is the same problem then the dimmer needs a firmware upgrade. But at present these don’t happen using a SmartThings hub. You’ll need the Aurora hub to do the firmware upgrade or possibly send your dimmer back to aurora and ask them to upgrade the firmware.
I’ve given up with the 2 gang rotary dimmer. One of the dimmers refuses to stay paired or stops responding to commands after a while. I have a 50 watt load on this circuit using Aurora approved LED bulbs and I have had no end of problems - flickering, unable to turn the lights off using the rotary switch, random turning on, unable to adjust the dimming level… I am going to return the dimmer for a refund.
@AndyPrice-Aurora - am keen to try and get my 2 gang rotary dimmer working with SmartThings. I have recently replaced all my GU10 dimmable LEDs and E14 dimmable LEDs with approved Aurora LED bulbs but still having issues with the dimmer. One of the circuits behaves erratically - inability to turn lights off using the dimmer button, inability to dim and flickering problems (I have a 50 watt load so well above the 10 watt minimum spec). Also one of the modules does not stay paired with the hub and becomes unresponsive soon after pairing with the SmartThings hub. I’m reluctant to spend another £100 on the AOne hub just to get the firmware updates that others have spoken about.
These are along with being able to configure one of your wired switches to operate purely in on/off (no dimming) mode the things preventing me buying your products for my entire house.
Currently no plans to implement a module as described above. We are instead focusing on adding to our line of wall switching solutions later this year to hopefully eliminate the need for any sort of mechanical wall switching.
With regards to using the dimmer as an on/off switch, this can be achieved in SmartThings, by using it in ‘Slave’ mode, selecting the Zigbee Switch device handler, and setting an inline relay or similar to ‘mirror’ the smart dimmer.
I can see how that would be a way of providing a form of on/off switch, unfortunately it has several major drawbacks.
It is far more complex to install as not only do you have to replace the wall switch but you need to fit somewhere the matching in-line relay. The simplicity of installing your wired (dimmer) switches is one of its major plus points.
It means having to buy both a wall switch and an inline module doubling the cost.
How would the wired wall switch get power? If the relay switches it off? I can see this working with a wireless switch but the whole point of your products in my opinion is the ability to replace wired switches preventing the problem faced with smart bulbs. Fitting a wireless switch over the opening would leave a big wiring issue - what to do with the existing wiring.
There might be another issue relating to two way i.e. ‘staircase’ style circuits.
There have been quite a few cases were people have been confused by the documentation of your inline modules and thought they worked the way the RGBGenie module I linked to works - that is that it would have the ability to both be wirelessly controlled and controlled via a wired switch. If customers have bought your inline module expecting that - and what I want then clearly there is a demand for that, as further evidenced by the fact other manufacturers make such a product. Ironically that inline module - the RGBGenie one would be a far better solution for a wired on/off switch than what you propose as it only requires a standard ‘momentary’ on/off switch with that module and would work with standard light wiring at the switch end. This is the same approach used by Fibaro, Aeotec, Insteon and many others with their micro modules.
I don’t think any smart or sensitive equipment will survive a insulation resistance test of that voltage across phase to neutral. You shouldn’t do that test with anything connected full stop.
Hi, can somebody just confirm this for me?
If the minimum load is 10w, in order to do any real dimming I’d need either a set of led bulbs that together combine quite a bit higher than 10w, or 1 bulb that is say 20w +?
If I bought 1 10w led bulb, I’m guessing I couldn’t dim it, and even if I bought a 20w led bulb I could only dim to 50%?