GE 45612 Z-Wave Wireless Lighting Control In-Wall Dimmer

[lalvarez]

Yes the dimmer works perfectly otherwise. I made a video showing what I am experiencing in case it's of any help.  At the end of the video I also show that the switch is successfully switching the lights.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wzfh2oeya28r43v/2014-10-06%2011.39.06-480p.mov?dl=0

And as I already mentioned it's a brand new switch (as well as the almond+ which is also brand new).

And yes, i do have another sensor that I got from you guys although it's a zigbee and not z-wave but that one also doesn't pair up.  Also made a video of this attempt:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kshoggnqi2ibbqs/2014-10-06%2011.59.22-480p.mov?dl=0

[LGNilsson]

Not sure about the Z-Wave switch, but I think you're pressing the button for too long, you just just tap it once to start the pairing process.
For the PIR sensor I'm certain you're pressing the button for too long, it needs a quick tap, that's it, as in less than 1 second, so in other words, you're never starting the pairing process.
To reset the ZigBee sensors from us, you need to press and hold the button for 10 seconds.

[lalvarez]

ok so the quick tab worked for the zig bee (btw that kind of info would be tremendously helpful in the instructions!)

but the other switch still is not pairing. Wish i had another z-wave switch to test and i hope i dont need to hire an electrician again to come and uninstall this switch.. how else can i test the zwave, is there some kind of diagnostics page somewhere?

[Vito]

lalvarez,

Even for the Z-Wave devices, you only need to give it a short tap.  That being said, there are occasions where a single tap doesn't register against my Vera controller.  I've sort of formed a habit of hitting every switch twice (usually an on and off, or off and on), as this give a much greater chance that the communication will be successful.  Try hitting remove and then tapping the switch a couple of short times.  I was just able to verify that the Remove Device option on the Almond+ actually completes successfully multiple times - which means that you should have some sort of response on the Almond+ regardless of the state that the switch is in.

[lalvarez]

ok so the secret was the "short tap". After an infinte amount of tries i finally got it to pair.  Thanks for all the advice, however i would really include this "short" tap info in the pairing instructions. I would have saved me hours of frustration.

[LGNilsson]

The problem is that every Z-Wave device manufacturer has a slightly different way of doing things. Sometimes it's a short tap, sometimes it's press a button three times really fast, sometimes it's the tamper switch and in the case of thermostats, it's a menu option, and so on.
We don't really know and if the device/sensor manufacturer has poor documentation, there's really nothing we can do about it since we can't guess how something needs to be paired.
Admittedly it's no better with ZigBee devices, as there are just as many different options used for adding them.

[lalvarez]

Gotcha, well the switch instructions were useless, it says you should follow your "controller" instructions!!  I think it's intended to be used with their own brand controller.  What makes the Almond great is that it's easy and intuitive to setup.. this is not your fault but this pairing experience was a major snag in an otherwise easy and pleasurable setup.  If the almond included a short "Things to try if it's not pairing" or something like that the pairing screen could cycle through if it is not paired right away would go a long way or at least a troubleshooting guide for pairing on the knowledgebase because even this message board is hard to search.  In either case i'm glad i finally got it working and thanks again for the help and sticking with me until i got it.  Now I am just waiting for more functionality from the Almond+ besides simple on and off so i can do some actual automation

[LGNilsson]

Well, because there's at least half a dozen or more different ways of adding a sensor, depending on the sensor type, it might be impossible to do this.
It's not a bad idea though, but it's not that feasible as there are some 1,000+ certified Z-Wave devices, plus at least a few hundred ZigBee devices. Admittedly we don't support all of them, but it gets really complicated really quick.