I had a switch that was taking a while to respond, I flipped it a couple of times (from the UI) and it stopped completely. I’m wondering if the bulb blew and without a circuit to complete the switch isn’t responding (as in the UI says failure to transmit etc). I would expect the command to go through but the light not turn on (if the bulb was the issue).
Basically trying to figure out should I be swapping bulbs or switches (It’s an exterior bulb 20’ high so not as simple as swapping a bedroom light)
Since this dimmer has no direct neutral connection, the zwave electronics in the switch gets its power through the circuit that goes through the bulb. As you suspect, if the bulb is bad, the circuit is not complete and the electronics have no power. This would explain the failure to transmit error.
A agree with both of you… It sure seems like its the bulb. This has me wondering tho … There’s a thread in the lighting/loads section that is discussing dummy loads. I’d bet that if you put one in at the switch side … Even as a temporary measure that would make the circut complete again let you know for sure if it’s the bulb or the switch.
It’s a very long thread but the last page has a great diagram… In sort all that needs to be done (with the power off) is to install a resister between the hot and the neutral … In the diagram it shies it being done after the resister but it could just as easily be done down at the switch level.
Fabrio sp? Also sells an ‘official’ dummy load that people use when they replace high watt incandescent bulbs with low watt LCD bulbs. Since almost all the dimmers except for some very expensive ones require a min wattage rating of 40 or sometimes more watts. And if that load doesn’t exist you’ll get bad results … Such as lights that won’t turn off or will strobe wildly and or other oddness.
Anyway … Using a dummy load as outlined in that post will let you know for sure if the bulb is dead ad the switch should come back to life once the dummy load is put in place and power is returned to the switch.