ZW31

5/4/2023 * Updated Review after working with EVA support. (Delay between the reviews was due to me, not the seller. Was working on other projects and didn’t have time to stop to readdress)EVA,thank you for your help resolving the light switches issue! I removed one of the travelers from the dumb switch and connected the neutral wire to the common (black screw) and only one traveler (to the opposite side gold screw) then tested the configuration again and whala it’s now working as designed !!!Was always taught that the neutral (white wire) goes to the silver screw or gold screw and that the (black or red wire) are either line or load and it goes to the common black screw. Guess things have changed since I was taught to wire switches or maybe I’m just getting old. lol 🫣The EVA support team provided the level of service and more, that an average person would expect to receive. I do appreciate the team’s patience working with me to resolve this situation. My switches are able to now work in unison as described* 3/30/2023. Original review:The switch was easy to configure and connected by the way to my smart things app.I purchased this smart switch because it had the ability to work with a 3-way dumb switch. (Dumb switch = a non-smart switch. Older style 3-way light switch).My switch at bottom of the stairs is my main switch. the smart switch functions well when you use it with the app or with the switch itself. My issue is one I turn off the 3-way light upstairs with the dumb switch; it kills debility to turn the switch on again with the app or with the smart switch.My understanding when reading about this switch is that it could work with a 3-way dumb switch. However for me that is not the case. If the dumb switch is on then the smart switch functions fine. However, if you turn off the light by the dumb switch, it then kills the smart switch.— The dumb switch only has 3 wires (line, traveler and neutral. (On/Off 3-Way switch- No dimmer)— Whereas the smart switch has 4 wires. (line, load, traveler and neutral)

This is a very nice smart dimmer switch that is built equally well in quality, finish and design as the best. The rocker is solid and has a high quality finish like Lutron, Leviton and GE. The quick wire terminals make it easy to install without wire nuts, etc., just like GE. Instructions were very good, complete with multiple 3-Way wiring diagrams. The switch paired easily with my SmartThings Hub. No need for separate vendors' apps.I purchased 5 different brands of switches and returned all but this one and the GE Enbrighten due to quality, non-standard operation, or design. It works well as a standalone switch or in 3-Way configuration. The trade-off of using the EVALOGIK in a 3-way configuration with an existing manual 3-Way switch vs the GE switch with the GE Add-on switch in a 3-Way configuration is that you can only dim from one location with the EVALOGIC - the manual switch provides on-off function with the dimmer coming on to the last set value. The GE Dimmer and Add-on Switch allow you to control on-off and brightness from both locations, but you have to buy two switches. I am using EVALOGIK for just about all of my single switch applications and GE for 3 and 4 way applications. Both are great and you can't tell them apart when installed side by side.

Update 12-2022: The seller promised to replace the device when it’s in stock. But no response. I have replaced all of their switches with Zooz brand. They are much reliable and good supportUpdate 10-2021: After a year of installation, this switch stopped working. The small tab at the base of the switch pops out (not sure why) and it wont work unless you hold it down. Now I have to remove these from the network. Coincidentally, these are now unavailable!! If I dont hear from the seller, Im going to knock this down to 1 starWARNING: Please ensure you turn off the power before working. If you dont have any experience inElectrical work before and you dont want to risk the device, better get a certified electrician to do this.Also this is a long review, but I promise it covers all bases.I canna' change the laws of physics, Captain!....The concept of a light switch is trivial to electronics and its a surprise that it took us so many years to have a wireless switch! However the biggest reason for this delay is how can you fit all that circuitry inside a housing much less than 1" x 3" x 1" and make it work flawlessly, everytime. The operative word is - evertime - thousands in a day probably. What works so easily with a dumb switches on a 3-way connection, becomes as complex as a Jet engine (albeit in smaller size) for an electronic switch.THATS where this one excels. With just a slight of hand you can get your existing dumb switch, at the far side of the room, to work with this ZWave switch. And yes, it does changes the state in Homeassistant and Homekit, when you operate using the dumb switch! Lets get to the details.These are the voyages of....If your home was built before the 80s like mine, you will have slim switch boxes, crowded neutral wire bunching and a confusing 3-way layout. Initially I gave up and connected this as a regular switch to my floodlights. First it didnt show up in HASSIO, then I couldnt unregister it, I was losing patience. It did show up as Inovelli_unknown_something. So I researched and figured out how to unregister and register it properly (more on it later)So my 3-way didnt match the 2 circuits listed in the user manual. I had to figure out a new circuit (picture attached) as I had load out from one end and Power in from another! If you want to understand more about 3-Way switches, look up Electrical101 and they have a nice gif and explanation.Either way please do read the manual, it is very informative.Space, the final frontier....My switch box was a 4-gang, 2" deep metal box with a thick bunch of neutral and ground wires hogging the back. For most old houses, this is a premium and these electronic switches demand a lot!I remember returning the first gen JASCO switches few years ago just for this reason. The comparison picture is the JASCO v2 and EVA in terms of thickness. Unless you have a very small or very crowded box, you should be fine. Take a look at the pictures I attached. The EVA switch fits with a paper thin gap to spare on the top and just about right in depth.To give you a perspective, I have 2 more ZWave switches in addition to this one in that 4-gang box. If this was a 1/8" more taller or thicker, I would have had to return this one. Phew!Beam me up, Scotty...Ok, you have come this far, wired the 3-way correctly and its working fine!. Lets hook it up to your ZWave network. Mine is a Nortek USB connected to a RPi 2B running HASSIO. Yours could be a different hub. You need to access the UI for your hub and put the ZWave controller on "ADD NODE" mode, then press the EVA switch paddle (up or right) 3 times quickly.You should see the switch being recognized in the logs and within few seconds "Heal the network" and then you will find the switch configured as "Inovelli" but type unknown. You should see the entity identified as Light with Brightness control.You dont see the brightness level? Fear not, here is the secret sauce: If you have the switch connected to a regular bulb (in my case it was floodlights) you will see it just as a switch. As soon as I connected it to the Dimmable LED bulbs, Voila!, it showed up as a dimmer!! Test it to your hearts content and by now you should be on your way to add it to Scenes, Automations etc. I did a NodeRED flow connecting to my projector to turn on from zero to 100% brightness, slowly.Dammit, Jim!.....My ZWave controller is 4-rooms away from this switch. When I operate using Homekit, its 3 layers of software before it gets to the switch. With that said, the switch turns on / off with no delay at all. BUT, turning the brightness up or down, thats a hit or miss (from Homekit). However there are no problems from the paddle, just keep pressing up or down, it increases or decreases, it works normally.Set Phasers to stun...1. Make sure you dont over loose the screws on the terminals. I used a small electrical hand driver and ended up removing the screw from the terminal. It required some surgical accuracy to get it to tighten back to the square nut under the terminal. The nut keeps moving makes it so difficult so some choice words might escape and thats common. I should have figured NOT to use the driver, right? I would have preferred the nut locks on me when I try to loosen it or even better the nut is fixed so I can easily screw it back!2. When I tried adding this switch to Homeassistant it initially showed up as config-unknown-cant-do-nothing entity. That freaked me out, didnt it! If you get spooked likewise, worry not. Head over to the Inovelli community and install their config files in HASSIO, lo and behold, this switch will be exposed as a dimmer.3. If you dont have a dimmable LED bulb connected, you will not see any dimming options on your hub. So fix that before you start packing to return this switch4. De-registering / Registering is 3 clicks on any one paddle, not both. Be patient in both steps, it will definitely be recognized by your hub.Little Help here, Scotty?The company that sells and supports this switch is from China. So there is that 1 day delay in response to your questions or reported problems. But I can tell you they are responsive and in fact overzealous in their support! They offered to replace the switch when I tried to explain the design fault of the screw-nut-difficulty! I had to tell them NO, its working fine. Try that with other vendors who start support by assuming you did something wrong!You must have bought electronics from China with very little help on the user manual and sometimes in really bad English. This is a really well written manual in proper English! I looked up their company website and it was pretty thorough and have links for the user manual, in case you loose the paper one!In Summary....This switch is the ONLY cheapest option for anyone trying to automate a 3-way switch with ZWave. And that USP works flawlessly each time, in addition to the ZWave operations.Can it connect to USB ZWave Controller? CHECKCan I replace it with existing 3-way and no add-on? CHECKCan it Dim the LED lights? CHECKDoes it respond without delay? CHECKDoes it fit inside small box? Tight fit, but still, CHECKDoes it have a proper User Manual? CHECK!!!For $32 and no-add-on this and it checks all my boxes, this is definitely a go-to dimmer-3way-switch for me.Please note:I havent tested this with any other hub, so I cant tell you if it works with it or not.This is a ZWave Plus device, but I havent tested that part because I prefer my lights in ZWave only. Im pretty sure it will work fine in Plus mode.Oh and BTW, nobody paid me or gave me anything free for this review. I just simply loved this switch, and ended up ordering 2 more for the Kitchen and Garage 3-ways! So this is 100% my own opinion.

We have had an older version of this for several years, but when it finally failed to connect to our smartthings hub, it was time to replace it. I tried another cheaper version, but it never worked. So I found this one and it works great. Easy to install and connect to smartthings.