How to send BASIC SET with the value > 100 to a Z-Wave device?

Hi all!
I have a EuroTronic Stella Z Thermostat, and I need to send a Basic SET command with the value “0xFE” (“254”) to it (in order to switch the thermostat into Direct Control mode).
I have the following item:

Number Thermostat_Basic_Kitchen “Thermostat Basic Kitchen” (Home) {zwave=“36:command=basic”}

I open openhab console (“telnet localhost 5555”) and type:

openhab send Thermostat_Basic_Kitchen 254

And here is what I get as the result:

2015-11-25 00:33:25.251 [INFO ] [runtime.busevents ] - Thermostat_Basic_Kitchen received command 254
2015-11-25 00:33:25.251 [WARN ] [.o.b.z.i.c.ZWaveBasicConverter] - No converter found for item = Thermostat_Basic_Kitchen, node = 36 endpoint = 0, ignoring command.
2015-11-25 00:33:25.251 [WARN ] [.o.b.z.i.c.ZWaveBasicConverter] - No converter found for item = Thermostat_Basic_Kitchen, node = 36 endpoint = 0, ignoring command.

And the command is not sent. If I try:

openhab send Thermostat_Basic_Kitchen 0xFE

I get:

Error: Command ‘0xFE’ is not valid for item ‘Thermostat_Basic_Kitchen’
Valid command types are: ( DecimalType )

If I change the item type from Number to Dimmer, I am able to send BASIC SET to the device, but the maximum allowed value in this case is 100.

Could anyone help me how to sent BASIC value 254 to the device via OpenHAB?

Thanks in advance.

Up. Does anybody know the answer to my question?