I haven’t really tested the range on the smart switches, they are up one floor and about 20’ from the Vera. I did notice that reliability of my door locks got better after adding them to my z wave network. The locks used to be nearly worthless whenever my 900mhz baby monitor was turned on but that is no longer an issue.
The switches seem to respond to commands quickly and reliably.
I did add a 2nd switch to a 2 gang box and they don’t fit side by side. I had to rearrange the wires and put them both in at an angle.
I have one working in a 3-way, but not all wiring arrangements are the same.
Just think of all the switch wiring as all being low voltage and the line voltage only goes in and back out of the relay side of micro switch (no connection to the wall switches).
For an existing arrangment where the wiring goes out to the 2nd 3 way then comes back to the same box before going to the light (see image), it’s a snap.
If the neutral and two travelers go out to the second switch then go directly to the light from there, it will be tricker. I haven’t tried it, but using the neutral as a common on the low voltage switching circuit might be one way to make it work, assuming the switching circuit will tolerate one side of the LV switching circuit to be grounded (might be worth checking to see if one side already is).
I think these switches also can be set up for momentary pushbuttons / spring return switches which could be wired in parallel. That would make the wiring easier for anyone who is 3-way challenged.
Would I be able to trigger one of these smart energy switches with a motion sensor, such as the RAB SMS-500?
I would like to configure it such that when the motion sensor is triggered, it will trigger the smart energy switch, and that event will trigger other zwave switches around my home.
BTW: I prefer to use this motion sensor instead of a purpose-built ZWave motion sensor since it would be hard-wired and I won’t ever need to change batteries. It seems all z-wave enabled motion sensors use batteries.
IIUC, you’re proposing to have the motion sensor turn on the micro switch (i.e. the small inserts that sit in the wall behind a regular switch) and that would trigger a Z-Wave event to do other things?
Also note that folks have made modifications to their Z-Wave motion sensors to hardwire them to power; some of which is documented here. (The HSM100 is an example, the new version HSM100-S2 has a built-in power port (but folks have reported operational issues with this sensor)).
I wouldn’t suggest hard wiring the motion sensor to the switch input on the Aeon module. The light would turn on with motion then back off again when the motion sensor shut off. Also, the status update in Vera is not instantaneous from the Aeon switch.
I have mine set up with an alarm panel input and use that to trigger a Vera scene. That way Vera can check to see if it’s dark outside before activating the switch on a motion input and the status update is instantaneous. Also, I can program in Vera how long to keep the light on after motion is no longer detected.
I have both G1 and G2 dimmer (plus a G2 switch). Both G1 and G2 work with Vera and they are very similar. The main difference is indeed the UL listing. I believe one of the reasons G1 wasn’t listed is because the high and low voltage connections were on the same side of the switch, whereas they’re on opposite sides for the G2. Because of this I would NOT connect their upcoming glass touch panels to the G1, however standard 110V (momentary) switches should be safe when properly grounded. Either way you might lose insurance coverage by using a non-UL listed anything in your wall box.
The UL listing for G2 is marked as c(UL)us, meaning it is valid for both US and Canada.
Aeon Labs support said this: “The G1 and G2 are pretty much the same, just a different casing and the G2 has some extended functionalities. Though the casing is different, the max wattage should remain the same. It’s just a different design of hardware.”
Also, you can set parameter 80 to 1 for instant reporting of status changes. There are other functions available, search the web for “Aeon Labs SES ? Engineering Specifications and Advanced Functions for Developers”.
I’m using the G1 and G2 dimmers with multiple Cree LED can lights each, and that works fine (despite the device being listed as “incandescent only”). The soft-on/soft-off is neat, and I had to have the energy reporting for an extra $5 (making the G2 the “Micro Smart Energy Illuminator G2”).
Three- and more-way wiring is a challenge because the wall box that has the light connection must also have a hot. Otherwise, there is no way to use the travelers for the low voltage switch connection (I use momentary switches, so two travelers are enough; the momentary switches are in parallel, connected to the input of the micro dimmer). In a standard three-way setup, one of the two travelers is always hot, supplying the light with power when the second switch is set accordingly. Other electronic or “fancy” dimmers use one traveler as permanent hot and switch the other between hot and neutral or put a low voltage on the second traveler. This is not the case with the Aeon, and a big shortcoming IMHO.
Please do not install the Aeon micro switches/dimmers yourself if you do not have a thorough understanding of how they work; they are more difficult than other products especially in multi-way setups (but even when using one with only one switch you could easily accidentally overfill the wall box, which is harder to do with a regular switch, or run into trouble with the low-voltage input). To be safe, get a licensed professional.
Here are two more parameters that Aeon support let me know about:
Parameter 3 is the Current Overload Protection, the default value is 0 which means that it is off, value 1 wll turn it on. This will protect the micro SES from drawing too much current and burning out.
When I asked why it wasn't on by default, I didn't really get an answer.
Parameter 120 will set the mode of the micro SES G2 to utilize External Switch or Button Control.
I found that 1 (default) is toggle switch and 0 is momentary.
I’m really liking these devices, they’re (more) affordable, flexible, and they support routing.
I have over 12 of them (mixed models G1 & G2), they work great. the only drawback i had till recently was lack of instant updates, which was solved with parameter 80 8)
I just noticed that the latest version of the Smart Energy Switch G2 (Switch, not the Dimmer/Illuminator) allows for a different, more standard way of 3-way wiring. Since that version of the manual isn’t posted online I’ve attached the picture. Note the top notch spelling.
What do you do for local dimming control with these devices? Do you have to use a momentary push switch for this? Can anyone recommend an inexpensive model?
Has anyone tried these with a single LED fixture? I have a few rooms with a 6" can that I put a dimmable 19W LED insert into and I’m trying to figure out the most cost-effective way to get zwave dimming control of these (LRM-15?).
[quote=“robertmm, post:115, topic:167447”]I just noticed that the latest version of the Smart Energy Switch G2 (Switch, not the Dimmer/Illuminator) allows for a different, more standard way of 3-way wiring. Since that version of the manual isn’t posted online I’ve attached the picture. Note the top notch spelling.
Edit: The dimmer DOES NOT support this.[/quote]
Hi Robertmm
I don’t understant the 3-way switch layout of the diagram, it looks like all the nodes are in such a way, ragardless of switch toggle, there is always live(hot) high voltage connection to the switch terminal of the module?
Would you please elaborate on how you installed your module?
Did you need tha Hot and the Load to be both on the same gang box?
