Smart Dimmer 6 user guide. Print

Aeotec Smart Dimmer 6.

Aeotec Smart Dimmer 6 has been crafted to power connected lighting using Z-Wave Plus. It is powered by Aeotec’s Gen5 technology.

To see whether Smart Dimmer 6 is known to be compatible with your Z-Wave system or not, please reference our Z-Wave gateway comparison listing. The technical specifications of Smart Dimmer 6 can be viewed at that link.

Familiarize yourself with your Smart Dimmer.

The Smart Dimmer 6 can only be used with Dimmable Lighting products, and may not be connected to appliances or products such as Laptops, Desktop PC, or any other non dimmable lighting products

Quick start.

Getting your Smart Dimmer up and running is as simple as plugging it into a wall socket and linking it to your Z-Wave network. The following instructions tell you how to add your Smart Dimmer to your Z-Wave network via Aeotec Z-Stick or Minimote controller. If you are using other products as your main Z-Wave controller, such as a Z-Wave gateway, please refer to the part of their respective manual that tells you how to add new devices to your network.

If you’re using an existing gateway:

1. Place your gateway or controller into Z-Wave pair or inclusion mode. (Please refer to your controller/gateway manual on how to do this)

2. Press the Action Button on your Dimmer once and the LED will flash a green LED.

3. If your Dimmer has been successfully linked to your network, its LED will become solid green for 2 seconds. If linking was unsuccessful, the LED will return to a rainbow gradient.

If you’re using a Z-Stick:

1. Decide on where you want your Smart Dimmer to be placed and plug it in to a wall outlet. Its RGB LED will blink when you press the Action Button on the Smart Dimmer.

2. If your Z-Stick is plugged into a gateway or a computer, unplug it.

3. Take your Z-Stick to your Smart Dimmer.

4. Press the Action Button on your Z-Stick.

5. Press the Action Button on your Smart Dimmer.

6. If Smart Dimmer has been successfully added to your Z-Wave network, its RGB LED will no longer blink. If the adding was unsuccessful, the red LED will be solid for 2 seconds and then remain colorful gradient status, repeat the instructions from step 4.

7. Press the Action Button on the Z-Stick to take it out of inclusion mode, and then return it to your gateway or computer.

If you’re using a Minimote:

1. Decide on where you want your Smart Dimmer to be placed and plug it in to a wall socket. Its RGB LED will blink when you press the Action Button on the Smart Dimmer.

2. Take your Minimote to your Smart Dimmer.

3. Press the Include button on your Minimote.

4. Press the Action Button on your Smart Dimmer.

5. If Smart Dimmer has been successfully added to your Z-Wave network, its RGB LED will no longer blink. If the adding was unsuccessful, the red LED will be solid for 2 seconds and then remain colorful gradient status, repeat the instructions from step 4.

6. Press any button on your Minimote to take it out of inclusion mode.

Default LED color (Energy Mode) for ON and OFF state.

The color of RGB LED will change according to the output load power level when it is in Energy mode (default use [Parameter 81 [1 byte] = 0]):

While the Dimmer is in an ON state:

• The colors of the LED will change based on the power being used by the load plugged into Smart Dimmer 6.

While the Dimmer is in an OFF state:

• The LED will appear as a light purple.

You can also configure the brightness and color of RGB LED when the Smart Dimmer is in Night Light mode by setting Parameter 81 [1 byte] = 2, or set it into Momentary mode by setting Parameter 81 [1 byte] = 1 to have the LED turn off after 5 seconds during a state change.

Removing your Smart Dimmer from a Z-Wave network.

Your Smart Dimmer can be removed from your Z-Wave network at any time.You’ll need to use your Z-Wave network’s main controller to do this and the following instructions which will tell you how to do this using an Aeotec Z-Stick or Minimote controller. If you are using other products as your main Z-Wave controller, please refer to the part of their respective manuals that tells you how remove devices from your network.

If you’re using an existing gateway:

1. Place your gateway or controller into Z-Wave unpair or exclusion mode. (Please refer to your controller/gateway manual on how to do this)

2. Press the Action Button on your Dimmer.

3. If your Dimmer has been successfully unlinked from your network, its LED will become a rainbow gradient. If linking was unsuccessful, the LED will become green or purple depending on how your LED mode is set.

If you’re using a Z-Stick:

1. If your Z-Stick is plugged into a gateway or a computer, unplug it.

2. Take your Z-Stick to your Smart Dimmer.

3. Press and hold the Action Button on your Z-Stick for 3 seconds and then release it.

4. Press the Action Button on your Smart Dimmer.

5. If your Smart Dimmer has been successfully removed from your network, its RGB LED will remain the colourful gradient status. If the removal was unsuccessful, the RGB LED will be solid, repeat the instruction from step 3.

6. Press the Action Button on the Z-Stick to take it out of removal mode.

If you’re using a Minimote:

1. Take your Minimote to your Smart Dimmer.

2. Press the Remove Button on your Minimote.

3. Press the Action Button on your Smart Dimmer.

4. If your Smart Dimmer has been successfully removed from your network, its RGB LED will remain the colourful gradient status. If the removal was unsuccessful, the RGB LED will be solid, repeat the instructions from step 2.

5. Press any button on your Minimote to take it out of removal mode.

Advanced functions.

Changing RGB LED mode:

You can change the mode of how the RGB LED acts through configuring the Smart Dimmer. There are 3 different modes: Energy mode, Momentary indicate mode, and Night light mode.

Energy mode will allow the LED to follow the state of the Smart Dimmer, when the dimmer is on, the LED will be on, and while the dimmer is off, the current colour LED will be off and then the purple LED remains on. Momentary indicate mode will momentarily turn the LED on for 5 seconds then turn off after every state change in the dimmer. Night light mode will allow the LED to be turned on and off during your selected time of day you have configured for it.

Parameter 81 [1 byte dec] is the parameter that will set one of the 3 different modes. If you set this configuration to:

      (0)  Energy Mode

      (1)  Momentary Indicate Mode

      (2)  Night Light Mode

Security or Non-security feature of your Smart Dimmer in Z-wave network:

If you want your Smart Dimmer as a non-security device in Z-wave network, you just need to press the Action Button once on Smart Dimmer when you use a controller/gateway to add/include your Smart Dimmer.

In order to take full advantage of the Smart Dimmers functionality, you may want your Smart Dimmer as a security device that uses secure/encrypted message to communicate in your Z-wave network, so a security enabled controller/gateway is needed.

Pair in Security Mode:

• Put your existing secure gateway into pair mode
• During the pairing process, tap the Action button of the Smart Dimmer 6 twice within 1 second.
• Blinks blue to indicate secure pairing.

Pair in Non-Security Mode:

• Put your existing gateway into pair mode
• During pairing process, tap the Action button of the Smart Dimmer 6 once.
• Blinks green to indicate non-secure pairing.

Testing Health Connectivity.

You can determine the health of your Smart Dimmer 6s connectivity to your gateway using a manual button press, hold, and release function which is indicated by the LED color.

1. Press and hold Smart Dimmer 6 Action button

2. Wait until the RGB LED turns into a Purple Color

3. Release Smart Dimmer 6 Action Button

The RGB LED will blink its Purple color while sending ping messages to your gateway, when it has finished, it will blink 1 of 3 colors:

Red = Bad Health

Yellow = Moderate Health

Green = Great Health

Be sure to watch for the blink, as it will only blink once very quickly.

Reset your Smart Dimmer:

If at some stage, your primary controller is missing  or inoperable, you may wish to reset all of your Smart Dimmer 6 settings to their factory defaults and allow you to pair it to a new gateway.  To do this:

1. Press and hold the Action Button for 20 seconds
2. The LED will change between these colors:
   • Yellow
   • Purple
   • Red (blinks faster and faster)
   • Green (Successful indication of factory reset)
   • Rainbow LED (waiting to pair to new network)
3. When the LED changes to Green state, you may let go of the action button.
4. When the LED changes to a rainbow LED state, it will indicate that it is ready to pair to a new network.

Firmware Update Smart Dimmer 6

In the case that you need to firmware update your Smart Dimmer 6, please refer to this article here: https://aeotec.freshdesk.com/solution/articles/6000130802-firmware-updating- smart-dimmer-6-to-v1-03

It is currently required to have:

1. Z-Wave USB Adapter that conforms to Z-Wave Standards
2. Windows Operating System (XP, 7, 8, 10)

Additional information on other Gateways uses.

Smartthings Hub.

Smartthings hub has basic compatibility to the Smart Dimmer 6, it does not allow you to access its advanced configuration functions readily. In order to make full use of your Smart Dimmer6 to its fullest, you must install a custom device handler in order to access other functions of the Dimmer.

You can find the article for the custom device handler here: https://aeotec.freshdesk.com/solution/articles/6000092021-using-smart- dimmer-6-with-smartthings-hub-s-custom-device-type

The article contains the github code, and information used to create the article. If you need help installing the custom device handler, please contact support about this.

More Advanced Configurations

The Smart Dimmer 6 has a longer list of device configurations that you can do with Smart Dimmer 6. These are not exposed well in most gateways, but at the least you can manually set configurations through most Z-Wave gateways available. These configuration options may not be available in a few gateways.

You can find the configuration sheet by clicking here: ES – Smart Dimmer 6 [PDF]

If you have any questions on how to set these, please contact support and let them know what gateway you are using.

Read User Manual Online (PDF format)

Download This Manual (PDF format)

Download this manual  >>