Fibaro Dimmer won't stay ON

I have a Fibaro Dimmer FGD-212 configured as node 68 in my zWave network. When I turn it on via OH2 (site-map, HABmin or Paper UI) the light briefly turns on but then turns off again automatically. If I turn it on via the connected momentary-switch, it stays on and is reflected correctly in OH2. I have 30+ of these dimmers and this is the only one behaving in this way.

Item Config

Switch light_back_wall_sw "Back Wall Switch" { channel = "zwave:device:512:node68:switch_dimmer1" }

Manual Switch Press - works
zWave log entries from openhab.log (decoded through CD Jackson’s log viewer) when switch turned on

Turn On via OH2 - fails
Log shows device turning on, then reducing dimmer level to 44% before finally dropping to 0 (OFF)

Working example from another Dimmer node
This log extract shows the behaviour of another working node in the network - and demonstrates expected output.

Any ideas on what might be going on here?

J.

I’ve found Fibaro FGD-212 firmware v3.2 has a chronic random bug:

  • Send a Z-Wave command to turn a device ON
  • The device dimms up for turns on for 0.25 S, then dimms down to OFF itself.
  • No current overload events logged, no error events logged, the light just turns off.

My own lights tended to be work more reliably via the hard-wired switch than Z-Wave, which led me to a knowledge base article on changing timing settings:

Login to your Home Center Lite/2, go to device’s advanced settings and change the parameter 6 (Time of a dimming step at automatic control) to 0,03 s.

This suggesting changing several settings including changing parameters 5 & 6 (automatic control time and step) to be more like 7 & 8 (manual control time and step). As my device showed manual control to be more reliable, that made sense and the change did help reliability somewhat after increasing param 6 from 1 to 3:

With Bypass2 - try several rounds of forced re-calibration first.

# Original Test Parameter
1 12 ‘‘10’’ Min brightness
2 83 ‘‘90’’ Max brightness
3 1 1 Incandescence level
4 0 0 Incandescence time
5 1 1 Dimming step PC AUTO
6 1 ‘‘3’’ Dimming step time AUTO
7 1 1 Dimming step PC MANU
8 5 5 Dimming step time MANU

Details: https://manuals.fibaro.com/dimmer-2/

Sadly, although fractionally better, this was not perfect. You might be lucky by swapping the load for another bulb type (e.g. LED lights have many different circuit types which dim differently), or re-calibrating, but it didn’t work for me.

The only fix I know is to replace v3.2 with v3.5 firmware. As Fibaro unreasonably restrict firmware updates to their own HomeCentre platform, upgrading the firmware means giving Fibaro more money. Replacing all my v3.2 devices with new ones running v3.5 fixed all my problems - regardless of the type of lighting load, 2 or 3-wire install, and whether a Bypass 2 was installed.

My partial workaround in OpenHab was to send ON, then wait 250mS, send ON, wait 500mS, send ON, … and try a few cycles, experimenting with both the inter-ON delay and number of attempts:

     * dStdy_Ceiling.sendCommand(ON)
     * Thread::sleep(250)
     * dStdy_Ceiling.sendCommand(ON)
     * Thread::sleep(250)
     * dStdy_Ceiling.sendCommand(ON)

I still have many FGD-212, but after two years of experimentation and attempted workarounds, decided to replace all but one with v3.5 firmware. After this experience, I now prefer Sonoff devices with Tasmota firmware to Fibaro. Sonoff are cheap, simple, reliable, and offer better long-term maintenance.

Excellent response - thank you! Gave me lots to go on and try - sadly none of it worked up until the 3.5 firmware. I was running 3.3 and clearly had some bugs from the 3.2 version. I’ve now installed a shiny new 3.5 FGD212 and all is working perfectly.

Thanks again!

J.