New Zwave products from Fibaro

[j.hoekstra]

@j.hoekstra: Dude what a mess.... fire you electrician.... this is as far as I (not an expert) can tell not according dutch building regulations...

In the Netherlands, we also have a box in the ceiling with the neutral (blue) and the switchwire (black). The power wire (brown) ends at the switch and goes to black after the switch.

So its not possible (I think!) to connect the fibaro there since you dont have the power wire there... either way, you have to pull a power wire to the ceiling box and install the fibaro there or pull the neutral to the switchbox....

Like Fantic says, Green is power here

Don't worry, these are just the old colors used untill the 70's, there are still around in many older installations. these are the colors and their functions:

Thanks, I thought so already, now I need to go to a DIY-shop to get some install-wire and 'lasdoppen ' which can contain 7*2.5^2 :/
As far as I can tell the fibaro will then be able to be used as intermediary switch.

[Reiniertc]

certainly strange: I've clipped my additional info of the root device: it doesn't support status?!
I've found a work around, thanks to you: when I manually operate the switch, the log file reports a status change of the root unit, but home seer status isn't changed.
I've created two events, based on the status of the root unit, which in turn changes the value of child switch 1.

Schermafbeelding 2011-10-24 om 20.28.41.png (32.72 KiB) Viewed 12165 times

[Henk_J]

Just to let you know. I can also confirm that a bypass will solve the flicker problem with CFL lights. It is strange because I had thought that using the neutral wire would also solve this. The bypass is just a serial connection of a condensator and resistor. Conrad partnumber 456144 .

[Sooty]

I have done quite a lot of testing with the Fibaro dimmer over the last few days with various types of non-dimmable CFL and LED lamps in a 2 wire system and I have come to the conclusion that this module is not ideal for switching non-dimmable lamps in my setup.

I set parameter 10 to 0 and also the min dim level to 98%. All but one of the CFL's I tried would flicker when off without the bypass. With the bypass installed all the lamps were fine when off (no flickering) however there was a noticible flicker when on full power with some lamps.

I would like to use this module in my kitchen, where I have 4, R80 recessed downlighters in the ceiling using CFL's and a range of LED's on another circuit in and around the cabinets. At present there is only one 2 wire wall switch which controls the main ceiling lights and the LED's are controlled by a Home Easy (KaKu) module and a wireless switch.

I think I will replace the lamps in the ceiling with halogens then this will allow me to install the Fibaro module behind the switch where I can then add a double momentary switch to control the main lights directly and the LED's by association on S2.

I suppose another option is to find a double battery powered Z-Wave switch (if such a thing exists) and place it in the position of the current wall switch. I could then use 2 on/off modules at the lamp end of the circuits where the neutral wire is present.

I also purchased 2 of the 2 x 1.5kW relays. These are now both installed and appear to be performing fine. One of them is controlling may gate lights and my electric gate controller via another relay to get a 0 volt contact. I like the fact that you can set an auto off time per relay. My gate controller requires a 2 second pulse and this works fine. The other unit is controlling 2 sets of outdoor lights.

Paul..

[Sooty]

Well after a lot of head scratching, I finally solved my kitchen lights + Fibaro dimmer problem. The downside is that this has cost me another 150 pounds or so to implement and I have doubled the electricity consumption of the 4 lights from 100 to 200 watts.

I first had to install a 40mm deep back box in the wall as the existing one was only 25mm. Not a 5 minute job .
I then replaced all my low energy R80 fittings using conversion kits which consist of an adapter plate to cover the larger 120mm hole, low voltage 50w halogen IRC lamps and dimmable electronic transformers. I then installed a double momentary switch (I used the MK grid modular system for this) and the Fibaro dimmer now just fits in nicely behind the switch.

I am happy to report that everything seems to be working just fine. No buzzing from the dimmer or the transformers and no flickering at any dim level. I have also associated the second input switch to a Duwi on/off module which in turn is controlling some LED lighting in and under the kitchen cabinets.

Overall I am happy quite with this setup and I think it is likely that over time I will switch all my lighting over to Z-wave.

Paul..

[Sooty]

Perhaps I spoke too soon...

Originally I had a second on / off module associated to Group 1 of the dimmer and Homeseer associated to Group 3. This worked fine. When the dimmer was switched the second module was also controlled and the status was automatically updated in Homeseer.

I wanted to move device 2 onto my second switch to make it independant of the main lights, so I removed the association to Group 1 and added an association to Group 2, however module 2 does not appear to respond to switch 2 on the dimmer. I have also tried associating other on / off modules to switch 2 but again they do not respond.

Does anyone have association working on Group 2 with the Fibaro dimmer?

I have attached a screenshot of my Homeseer association setup for this device and also a diagram how I wired the 2 momentary switches. I assume this is correct as the manual does not actually show the connections in detail on the switch side.

Anyone have any ideas? I am new to Z-Wave, so maybe I am missing something obvious.

Thanks.

Paul..

[Henk_J]

Scooty, maybe stupid question but did you enable the second switch on the dimmer ?. By default this one is off. You can enable is with parameter 17.

[Sooty]

Reading the manual does not suggest to me that this would enable switch 2, but still I gave it a go.

Parameter No. 17 - the function of 3 - way switch, provides the
option to double key no. 1. The Dimmer may control two
bi-stable push-buttons or an infinite number of mono-stable
push-buttons. default value 0
Options for changing parameter 0-1
0 - the function of 3-way switch is disabled
1 - the function of 3-way switch is enabled

Setting parameter 17 to 1 with my setup makes switch 2 do exactly the same thing as switch 1. It just switches the load attached to the dimmer but the association to group 2 still does not work.

I sent an email to Fibaro in Poland yesterday and they replied saying that associating a device to group 2 should just work wihout any special configurartion changes. They are sending me a replacement dimmer in case the unit is faulty. I only have the one dimmer so I cannot test another unit.

It may be that the problem is caused by the way that Homeseer applies the association but I do not have another controller to try it with. Perhaps someone with a Vera or other controller and a Fibaro dimmer may test group 2 association on a second switch. This way I suppose I would then know if it is a module or Homeseer issue.

Paul..

[Sooty]

Today I received a replacement dimmer module from Fibaro and I can confirm that the problem with associating a device to group 2 was in fact a defective module and not a problem with Homeseer. It is working fine now controlling a second on/off module from switch 2.

Not sure if it is relevant but the serial number of the replacement unit is 0003 0885. The old unit that did not work with association on group 2 had the serial number 0002 3849.

Looking at the format of the serial numbers maybe the first part is a batch reference and I have gone from batch 2 to 3.

Paul..

[Michal Rodziewicz]

Hi There,

I've implemented a Fibaro Dimmer FGD211, in combination with homeseer .25 and an Aeon Labs USB stick
The dimmer is associated with group 3, which results in a perfect status update, including dimmer level.

I've tried to implement a Fibaro Switch 3kW FGS211, but somehow it isn't as easy as implementing the dimmer.
After including the switch in my network, it creates 3 devices (1 root, 2 switches). Only 1 of the 2 switches actually works.
The thing is: the switch won't automatically update the status to home seer. I've tried to associate it with group 1, 2, 3: no combination works.
Also: manual polling of the switch works, automatic polling of the switch doesn't.

At first I thought it was a reception problem, but the switch is installed 4 centimeters next to the dimmer. Also: home seer can reach the switch when I optimize the network.

Is there anyone out there with a FGS211 with a setup that successfully updates the status?

Answer : When You install the 1x3KW in appears as 3 devices ( 1 root , 2 switch , 3 virtual switch ) Virtual switch - this is additional functionality , that no one esle in the market have. You can use this virtual switch with You second button in a wall switch to control any other zwave device or run the scene. For example if You connect that for example to wall switch for light control, the second button when connected to S2 can control for example blinds. It's extremely good functionality for our costumers.

[Michal Rodziewicz]

When You install the 1x3KW in appears as 3 devices ( 1 root , 2 switch , 3 virtual switch ) Virtual switch - this is additional functionality , that no one esle in the market have. You can use this virtual switch with You second button in a wall switch to control any other zwave device or run the scene. For example if You connect that for example to wall switch for light control, the second button when connected to S2 can control for example blinds. It's extremely good functionality for our costumers.

[TFL9]

Are there people that already tried the shutter control of fibaro? Is it possible (like the duwi) to set a open/close time?
Preferably a time like 1 or 2 seconds I'm looking for because my shutters need a puls to open/close.

Grz,Wim

[Reiniertc]

When You install the 1x3KW in appears as 3 devices ( 1 root , 2 switch , 3 virtual switch ) Virtual switch - this is additional functionality , that no one esle in the market have. You can use this virtual switch with You second button in a wall switch to control any other zwave device or run the scene. For example if You connect that for example to wall switch for light control, the second button when connected to S2 can control for example blinds. It's extremely good functionality for our costumers.

I like the fact that I've got myself an extra option with the virtual switch. Maybe I'll implement it later on.
But my most urgent uestion is: what setup is needed to have the switch update it's status in homeseer?

[mhn]

Has anybody gotten status feedback working with HomeSeer and FGS221?

It works fine with the dimmer, but I have no luck with the double switch.

Regards
Morten

[jrkalf]

Can anybody tell me if these Fibaro switches allow for power metering as well. Or is this purely just switching?
I'm getting interested in starting off with some zwave switches in the house. (Wife addressed the fact she needed a new switch somewhere and kindly reminded me that I probably wanted to make it remote switchable)...

So I'm digging into information about zwave switches and remote control abilities as well as wall mounted buttons to actually do the switching