LZW36 Light Flashing

Has anyone else had their light just randomly to go 100% for a split second and then back to the proper dim setting? It really as fast as a strobe would be (but I only notice it once every few days). I have simple 40w incandescent bulbs - so im not sure how it could be a comparability issue.

I really was thinking that it was my eyes but my SO confirmed that i’m not losing it.

2 Likes

Yes! It was very obvious with LED bulbs. I switched back to incandescent, and I think it might still happen, but hardly noticeable anymore.

Yes, with ancient first-gen Cree dimmable LED bulbs at low dim settings. There was definitely a quick blip on the bulbs, that seemed to happen most frequently when the fan was spinning down from high speed in breeze mode. I wrote it off as the ancient bulbs, and the new Phillips dimmable LED’s that replaced the ancient Cree ones yesterday have not shown those same blips…

Interesting, the only bulbs I had that wouldn’t blink when dimming were 5 year old Cree bulbs, those rubbery feeling ones. But they won’t fit with the glass on the fan.

The blinking described here sounds more like what it does when you’re trying to pair the switch to the canopy module.

1 Like

That sounds like the ones that I was using! Big, heavy plastic base with a ring of plastic ribs/fins around the top, translucent rubber-coated lens over the LEDs, and about 4.5" tall so they wouldn’t fit into my fan globe made for 4.2" bulbs. Those things were something like $12 each when I bought them back in the day, and they were not rated for use in an enclosed fixture…

Yep, except I paid 79 cents each for them at Home Depot. I bought a lot of them and replaced every bulb in my house and my parent’s house. The local power company subsidized them. Of the bulbs I tried in the fan to find ones that wouldn’t flicker when turning on and off, these were the only ones. Plus my fan has GU24 sockets and I was using adapters which made the bulbs even longer. I ended up getting a pair of GU24 LED bulbs and changed the dimming rate to 0 so they would just turn on and off instead of dimming.

1 Like

I am having the same problem with some ECOSmart LED bulbs. Have 2 bulbs in the fixture, one incandescent, the other the ECOSmart LED. The LED flashes, the incandescent does not. Same LED bulbs in a simple, non-networked dimmer do not flash. It seems like a compatibility issue between the bulb and the dimmer. Still looking for a solution.

Happening to me too, looking for an answer from Inovelli.

Same issue. I have three LZW36 switches and it is happening in at least two rooms, with two different 3 inch down-lights, unsure if it is happening in the third room as I rarely spend time there.
But the same lights (Luxrite LR23965) do not have any issue with the LZW31 dimmer by Inovelli. :man_shrugging:

If anyone knows of any 3 inch recessed lights that work well with this dimmer let me know!

Hey all – sorry for the lack of response in this thread. So, typically what causes the flashing is an incompatible bulb(s). Unfortunately, the manufacturer switched the logic between the dimmers (LZW31, LZW31-SN) and the fan dimmer portion. For the switches, the driver is MOSFET, whereas with the fan/light, it’s TRIAC. I have no clue why this was done and found out about it afterwards, so that would explain the situation where certain bulbs work on our dimmers, but not the fan/light and vice versa.

Is there any way I can grab the bulb make/model’s from you so I can put them in our incompatible list (as it’s very bare at the moment)?

For people that have the flickering issue, is there a way to swap out the bulbs? If not, there has been some success with installing the Aeotec bypass. Sucks, I know as it’s an extra $15, but as you can imagine, it’s hard for us to test every single bulb :frowning:

Do you think this would be the same reason for the opposite issue (lights flicker off when set at constant 100%, as seen in this thread: LZW36 - Slight Flicker - General Discussion - Inovelli Community )?
Thanks!

I have incandescent bulbs in there.

I figured those would be the most compatible build you could pick, but I’m all ears to suggestions.

I have tried the following 3 bulbs and all flicker, if we can get a list of compatible bulbs of various sizes that would help. Thanks!

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EFYVF0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DJGAYJI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-100-Watt-T4-Halogen-Mini-Candelabra-Base-Sconce-Dimmable-Light-Bulb-416339/202800677?cm_mmc=ecc--STH_DELIVERY_COMPLETE--V1_M1_CA-_-Product_URL&ecc_ord=WJ13989135

Seeing this issue with Ecosmart 1001370398 (5000K, 9.5W, 60W replacement) bulbs from the Home Depot.

I also tried the Longstar L9-A19DF-9W LED bulbs that came with my Hunter ceiling fan. These flash to off instead of bright.

Also, whenever my Brother Laser/LED printer warms up in the same room, the bulbs temporarily dim. This did not happen on the normal switch.

Is Inovelli pushing the manufacturer to instead use a MOSFET?

Hello again guys – a point of clarification as we’re addressing this issue tonight with the manufacturer.

When you say that your lights are flashing, is it at random times of the day or is it a constant flash? I’m basing my discussion with the manufacturer off of OP’s comment:

This seems to be the same issue as this thread: LZW36 - Slight Flicker - General Discussion - Inovelli Community

Is that correct?

If so, I’ve noticed this too and hopefully someone can catch a video so we can send it onto the manufacturer. But we do plan on addressing this tonight and I’ll tag @JasonL_Inovelli who is the PM on the manufacturer’s side so he can start to ask further questions that his team has.

Hey all – are you on the stock firmware version or have any of you updated the firmware at all?

Sorry I just saw these!

I updated my firmware to 1.36 but still see the issue.

I think it might only happen when the fan is on, but other than that it’s pretty random. It might be the same root cause as the other thread, but my behavior is that it goes to 100 rather than 0.

Let me know if you need anything else clarified!

Ok, perfect! Thanks for the update. If you’re able to get a video that would be helpful, but I understand it’s random and you don’t want to be sitting there with a camera for 24hrs lol!

Someone in the other thread was able to capture a video, so that’s helpful and hopefully the root causes are the same.