Does anyone know if there are release dates upcoming for Gen3 switches that support Z-Wave long range and hopefully have a smaller button on the switches? That big button has kept me on the sideline from outfitting my house with Red Series switches.
If you haven’t already you might want to check out this thread on the Hubitat forums regarding Z-Wave Long Range.
A few highlights:
- Support can be added to 700 series devices with a firmware update
- SDK Version 7.15.x or newer will likely be required
- SDK 7.15.x has not been finalized/released
- Z-Wave Long Range hasn’t been added to the certification process
- Certification may become available in March
I wouldn’t expect any company to commit to supporting Z-Wave Long Range until it has been finalized, and they can determine the effort required. I suspect Inovelli will among the first once that time comes.
That being said the only current Inovelli products using the 700 series chips are the LED Strip and Fan/Light Switch. I would love to see their other products updated with 700 series chips, but that isn’t a small task (or in the case of bulbs cheap).
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Great question! As of right now we don’t have any plans to create a Gen 3 product this year. We are exploring options to convert our 500 Series switches to 700 Series so we can add in all the upgrades (right now we’ve had to take out features to make room for other features in the various firmwares) but as @amdbuilder mentioned, it’s very costly and time consuming to do so.
We are also looking into the long-range technology and have been talking with @bcopeland over at Hubitat about it and how to add it to our fan/light and lightstrip firmware. We’ll have a discussion tonight with the manufacturer about this.
As for the config buttons, we’re still keeping them the same as there is a solution in the community around making them smaller:
Video for removing the config button:
As simple as it sounds to change up the config button, it would actually require us to open up tooling and create new molds which run around $10k. Stinks 
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The 500 Series are Z-Wave Plus currently, correct? I’m just getting into home automation and wanting to make sure the hardware I start with is current with the latest tech standards.
One more question. The 400 Watt max for the dimmer switch, is this common? I have a few rooms in my house on dimmers with 6 can lights. I suppose I can swap out the bulbs to lower wattage, perhaps led bulbs to fit within that allotment. Most are in 2 or 3 gang boxes so I am not sure if these are practical for my application… Any guidance here is appreciated!
Yes the current line of switches are 500 series and are Z-Wave Plus. They support S0 and S2 encryption.
I believe it’s common. Also keep in mind it’s 400W if you don’t remove any of the tabs. If you remove one whole side it’s 300W or 200W if you remove both sides. How many watts are your bulbs? 6x60W is under the 400W limit.
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Yea!!! Long-Rang is going to be awesome!!
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