Z-Wave 800 Series 2-1 Switch (On/Off & Dimmer) | Project Phoenix

If memory serves me correctly, Z-Wave uses different radio frequencies in ITU Regions 1 and 3 than we use in North America (ITU region 2). It isn’t just the voltage that’s an issue…

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@Eric_Inovelli - how can I stay informed when these will be able to order? I don’t want to miss the release and I’m kind of waiting on these to finish a project I’ve been working on. I don’t want to just keep randomly checking this forum.

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Can you walk me through how you did that action in rule machine?

Do you have a local variable stored with those settings?

Not a variable. Use the Run Custom Action, then Select Custom Command then add the three parameters as numbers

This is what I’m getting when I try this… What am I missing?

That says its an LZW31-SN driver, which is the Z-wave 500 series, not the 800 series. Are you using an LZW31 dimmar or a VZW31-dimmer?

And where did you get that LZW31-SN driver? Its totally different than the one I have. My LZW31-SN driver is dated 2022-05-04 and has 1620 lines of code.

Yours has a different name and over 6100 lines of code!

aaah, OK

I did only skim the thread, looks like misunderstood what was being said.

I guess that means we can’t do this on the LZW31-SN?

Looks like we have the same driver, 1620 lines and same date. Not sure why the error says 6100 lines !!

You should be able to do it with an LZW, the custom command exists for those too. But something is definitely wacky with your driver reporting an error on line 6152. My suggestion is to go to the Inovelli website and download a fresh copy of the driver file and set your device to the newly loaded driver (with the correct name).

Hi @Eric_Inovelli, can you confirm yet whether the new “Z-Wave 800 2-1” is going to be a “true” 2-1 - where the on/off is handled by the relay directly connecting live to load (or maybe, switching the live between the load & the traveler). Or is the on/off going to be “simulated” using the dimmer circuitry (like the blues)?
If it’s going to use the relay, then I presume there will be caveats about working this way only with neutral, and no power monitoring. Also, do you have the ratings of the relay yet - in particular will it handle 15 amps, which might let it control an outlet?

The zwave 800 switch is the same as the zigbee version with a different radio. It cannot handle any inductive loads and should not be used to control an outlet.

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I was waiting to answer this one as we are testing a new parameter that is 100% pure sine-wave – so far we’ve seen some good results and this may possibly make its way to the Blue’s this week.

I haven’t had a chance to test this on the Red Series, but @stu1811 has done some tests with his oscilloscope that look promising.

More to come.

To answer your question indirectly, Stu is correct, the new 800 Series has the same internals as the Zigbee version.

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Would there be any benefit to using these Red switches instead of the Blue switches other than radio preference? I currently have an apartment full of Red 500s and I’ve begun planning on switching to Blue series for all of the new improvements as well as for better Hue control. I have two Blues now that I’m testing out and love them and want to replace all of my switches with them, but should I wait for these Reds?

Additionally, what max wattage are we looking at here for both dimming and on/off?

Binding to Hue (or anything else zigbee) will obviously only work with Blues, but aside from that, it sounds like the overall capabilities will be the same.

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Great question – to me personally, I think it does boil down to preference of radio, but I’m sure there are solid arguments outside of that.

We’re planning to keep all firmware features on par with each other as well as the hardware.

I’d say if I had to break it down for someone on the fence of choosing, it would boil down to this:

  • Feature-set and hardware is the same
  • Z-Wave offers greater security and Long Range capabilities, whereas Zigbee does not
  • Z-Wave runs on a different radio band so it shouldn’t interfere with your WiFi whereas Zigbee may
  • The Blue Series will have the capability to upgrade to Matter whereas the Red Series does not (at this time – I’m not sure what the future will bring)
  • IMO Zigbee Bindings are better than Z-Wave Associations – both are great, but to me, Zigbee Bindings handle groups of bindings better than Z-Wave Associations and it seems faster (all relative though)
  • Zigbee/Matter will work with more hubs than Z-Wave as Z-Wave is more specialized

Project Update:

We are trucking along on the firmware versions and just received our 4th version today. I’d say probably 2-3 more iterations and we should be good. But these iterations should come quickly as they’re just bug fixes as the switch has already been submitted to Z-Wave for certification (so we can’t add any new features).

As of now we are still on target for March/April timeline for production!

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FYI, if you mean the current Red Series switches and dimmers (LZW30/LZW31/LZW30-SN/LZW31-SN) or bulbs, they are 500-series. The fan/light (LZW36) and lightstrip (LZW45) are the only 700-series products they make/made. IMHO, 500 to 700 or 800 is a noteworthy jump, and I’m excited for the 800-series “replacements” for these first two — more than I’d be if they were already 700. :smiley:

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Yes, current Red switches, but the question was more about Blue vs these 800 Reds. My switches will probably be getting upgraded regardless, and I’m probably leaning towards going forward with Blue since I already have two and my lighting is Hue. I do have a couple Zwave light strips but I’ll just handle those through a hub so the switch radio doesn’t really matter.

Understood! FWIW, like you are also thinking, I will probably upgrade most/all of my 500-series Reds to the 800-series after they’re released. I use both Z-Wave and Zigbee, so I want a good mix of both Red and Blue (and I’m happy there are finally good Zigbee options!), but within Z-Wave land, I’d prefer 700/800 over 500. With feature parity being a goal, I’m not concerned about the difference in protocol. (I mean, I barely even notice with the current Reds because the Blues have so many extra features I’m not even using, but it would still be nice to upgrade the Z-Wave side. :slight_smile: )

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Any update on the canopy module project? If I wanted to combine this with an existing or announced switch to cobble together an LZW36 replacement, which switch would you recommend?

1.61 firmware has a mode parameter where you can select dimmer, on-off or smart bulb mode. So, seems the same to me.

These will use the MOSFETs in on-off mode because that’s the way the hardware is built. Same as the Blue switches does. They are working on a full-on firmware because testing a while back found it wasn’t full-on in on-off mode. I have no idea what the Red does in on-off mode, but it too is still using the MOSFETs.